Adventures you don’t plan for are always the best kind. You never know what you’re going to find, and that’s where the fun lies! And spontaneous adventures involving waterfalls are that much better.
To me, Nashville didn’t seem like the place for wilderness and waterfalls. But like I said, you never know. I wouldn’t have even thought to look until a friend mentioned going for a hike to a waterfall. I typed in “waterfalls Tennessee” into Google, an article popped up, and that’s how it started.
East of Nashville, the roads are pretty few and far between, so it shouldn’t have been too hard to stay on route. Of course, my dad loves to bushwhack for the fun of it. Straying from our GPS, we turned down a road that seemed to be an alternate route. With Siri upset with us, we drove on, and finally she decided to give it up.
Cummins Falls State Park
When we arrived at the first waterfall, Cummins Falls State Park, after mistakenly pulling into someone’s driveway once or twice and stumbling upon a drag racing track, I was surprised to see a lot of cars in the parking lot.
The first trail we took brought us to a nice overlook, where I sent my drone up to take some footage of the falls. They were spectacular—much bigger than I had expected!
After going back to the car to return the drone, we started out on the next, “very strenuous” hike to the base of the falls. Signs along the way told us we would have to get our shoes wet, and after crossing the freezing river barefoot a couple times, we finally gave in and just splashed in with our shoes on (except for my dad, who managed to avoid crossing that many times by bushwhacking yet again).
Reaching the big pool by the waterfall, I made my way up the slippery rocks to the first couple layers of the falls. I could’ve stayed there and explored all day. The waterfall cascaded down falling into shallow pools at each level. I contemplated swimming, but however tempting the calm water was, it was a little too cold! Although I did end up mostly soaking my clothes being right up close to the falls.
A little lunchtime hunger and the exciting thought of finding another waterfall were the only things that finally convinced me to turn my back and hike back down the river to the car. After some much needed sandwiches and snacks, we started our drive to the next waterfall.
Passing a small roadside market type shop, we decided to get some ice cream and local apples before continuing.
Burgess Falls State Park
Burgess Falls State Park has a series of 4 waterfalls, each one more impressive than the next. The trail to the overlooks was fairly easy, and even the more difficult one that goes down to the biggest falls was not terrible.
When we reached the final overlook of the biggest waterfall, I could hardly look away. It was so much prettier than the picture—the falls flowed gracefully over the edge, splashing when the water hit the pool at the bottom. Tall canyon cliffs surrounded the basin (the overlook perched on the edge of one side) and I wanted nothing more than to find a way to get down to the bottom! Unfortunately, the metal stairs going down were closed due to flood damage (looked like they had been closed for a long time).
The closest we could get was right up to the edge of the falls. Nothing was roped off, you could peer right over the edge to where the water was freefalling all the way to the bottom, 135’ down! It was breathtaking to say the least.
Before we left the park, I of course had to get some drone shots as well, which was a little scary because I was running low on battery. But they were worth it!
I’m working on a “Fall” video with all of this footage, but there are a few more adventures to be had before it’s done! So stick around, I’ll be posting some more these next couple weeks 🙂 Be sure to follow my Instagram for updates and photos as well!