by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Mar 14, 2025 | Hiking, Tennessee, Travel, Water Falls
Lost Creek Falls Natural Area is attached to the 57,000-acre “Mid-Cumberland Recreation Area.” We’ve driven past this area near Sparta, TN, many times and missed the opportunity to explore a rocky land where falls and cascades appear from large...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | May 2, 2024 | Hiking, Tennessee, Travel, Water Falls
My brother Jon and his wife Brenda came to visit us in Chattanooga for a week in April. We took them north to the Tennessee/Kentucky border to hike the 600-feet deep gorge carved into the Cumberland Plateau by the Big South Fork River and its tributaries. We rented an...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Nov 9, 2023 | Hiking, Hiking, North Carolina, Travel, Water Falls
The fall leaves in our portion of the Tennessee Valley were just starting to turn when reports that the leaves were peaking on the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP). Fortunately for us, the drive to the BRP entrance near Asheville, NC is only three hours away, so we booked a...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Sep 17, 2023 | Hiking, Tennessee, Water Falls
Our first fall hike of 2023 took us to the Rock Creek Gorge Scenic Area in the Cherokee National Forest in far eastern Tennessee to visit Falls of the Scenic Spur. Overcast skies supplied a few brief sprinkles, the temperature remained below 85-degrees, and we had the...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Aug 21, 2023 | Hiking, North Carolina, Travel, Water Falls
Second Falls, also known as Lower Falls is visible from the Blue Ridge Parkway just outside of Asheville, NC. Ease of access and the short hike in make it a very popular tourist stop and swimming hole. The Graveyard Fields loop also features Upper Falls. We stopped by...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Apr 4, 2023 | Hiking, Tennessee, Travel, Water Falls
Nine-miles north of Cookeville, Tennessee the Blackburn Fork State Scenic River continues to cut a deep gash through the Eastern Highland Rim. The 282-acre park’s rich history includes buffalo wallows, Cherokee Indian hunting parties, thriving mills, and a...