Surrounded by private property with stately homes, is the trailhead to Mabbitt Spring. Our walk in the woods starts steps away from a tiny, four-car lot on a bridge spanning the Little Falling Water Creek.
A short trail under a thick canopy of old-growth trees leads to Mabbitt Spring. These flowers were scattered along the path. We never figured out where they were falling from.
Little Falling Water Creek trickled mostly out of sight under piles of giant boulders. Lack of recent rain reduced the creek’s and spring’s flows.
Built in the mid-1800s, the weird, stone structure the spring trickles out of is a puzzler. Countless years of minerals leaching into the spring have permanently stained the water’s path.
The new sign’s message is vintage. Since Mabbitt moved after a few years, the Spring’s water must have been less than “healing” for his son. Fortunately, he kept the land around the spring and its access from developers.
Two creeks merge at Mabbitt Spring, both had scant flows and similar red staining. Note the mushroom rock pile on the upper right above the black fall.
The hike out and back to Mabbitt Spring was about a mile. The short hike was scenic and presented us with lovely flowers to ponder the names of.
Mabbitt Spring is up on Signal Mountain, where the public lands are fewer and harder to access than across the Tennessee River at Lookout Mountain. It’s only a 30-minute drive from our home and there are always interesting and beautiful finds to appreciate in all of Tennessee’s woods.
Passing a UFO in the forest on the drive back from Mabbitt Spring was also a real treat for this excursion. “Ya never know until you go.”