We ventured up on the Cumberland Plateau outside of Spring City, TN on Friday to kickoff Labor Day Weekend 2021. The Plateau’s tableland elevation varies around 1,440 feet and its deepest plunge into Little Piney Creek gorge is 540 feet. We started our hike in Piney Falls State Natural Area with little information on what to expect and rolled with the surprises.
The first half-mile in from the trailhead was easy sailing over eroding sandstone. The descent into the gorge jacked up the difficulty level dramatically. The stony path along steep cliff sides quickly turned into nearly vertical steps clinging to the layered, Chattanooga shale precipice.
The main trail split and we chose the path to Lower Piney Falls. Picking our way along the jagged cliff, we found this Fowler’s Toad basking in one of the many splashes of morning sun.
Around a short bend in the trail, my next step over a slick rock would have landed squarely on this three-foot long copperhead. Karen commented on how quick my retreat reflexes were for a man my age. Coupled with a sailorly curse, I avoided getting bit. The snake could be prodded to move, but it was not about to get off the sunny trail. We decided to save the Lower Piney Falls for a future visit during colder weather and turned back to seek the Upper Falls.
The trail to the top of Upper Piney falls was not difficult. Little Piney Creek plunges 80-feet, crashes onto the rocks below, then cascades 40-feet into a large pool. Beautiful from the top, but falls always look cooler when viewed from their base, which definitely was a struggle to get to.
It was impossible to take a picture showing how steep the trail down was. I would never have attempted it without the cables stretched along the sides. Karen wisely took a pass on this slope and waited for me at the top of the falls. She had the car keys and told me later, “I would have given you a couple hours, then gone for help.”
After my strenuous climb down, the mist behind the falls was refreshing. I have video for a later post.
I found climbing up the cliff face easier than going down. Working up the cable with my left hand, while pushing off with my farkleberry hiking stick in my right, did the trick. This is one of five tiers, that zigzagged to the top.
We drove thirty minutes from Piney Falls to the Stinging Fork Falls State Natural Area. The one-mile hike in did not get steep and treacherous until the downward portion. it was rocky, rooty, muddy and slippery. This time Karen took the challenge, slowly and carefully.
Stinging Fork Falls cascades 30-feet into a great swimming hole. It was cool and shady in the fall’s gulf and we ate lunch on a log.
An amazing amount of moisture it released into the air at the base of waterfalls. These giant mushrooms sprouted from a lightening-struck tree trunk directly across the plunge pool. These were tough hikes. I stopped at a gun and tackle store for directions on the way to Piney Falls. There were six men gathered around a table in the back of the store. They sent me on my way with this warning, “Them falls is dangerous. Lots a rocks still falling off ’em. Folks get hurt out there all the time. Watch yourself.” It was good advice.