First, I need to correct yesterday's entry: we are at Fall Creek Falls State Park, not Fall River Falls. After you look for it on a map, Google it, and look at tee shirts and souvenirs with the right name, it should register, but it didn't until a native Tennessean pointed it out. Ooops. So after visiting the General Store and the Gift Shop and poring over the somewhat inadequate maps, we decided to take the driving tour first to get our bearings.
We crossed the dam and took a long loop to reach, first of all, the overlook for Fall Creek Falls. This is either the highest or one of the highest falls east of the Rockies, depending on the brochure you're looking at. And the overlook, as the word implies, is much higher. Those of you who know me know I wasn't going to get too close to the railing so Butch took most of the pictures. The flow is much less than in spring or summer but still it is a beautiful spot.
We continued the drive, pulling over a couple of times at overlooks with stunning views of the gorge. At the first one, a nice couple from Jackson, Tennessee offered to take our picture and he confessed that he feels much the same about heights as I do. As we were leaving, a family with two boys arrived and I thought how glad I was not to be keeping track of kids in these spots. At the next overlook, there were our friends from Jackson and we exchanged a few comments.
We crossed the dam and took a long loop to reach, first of all, the overlook for Fall Creek Falls. This is either the highest or one of the highest falls east of the Rockies, depending on the brochure you're looking at. And the overlook, as the word implies, is much higher. Those of you who know me know I wasn't going to get too close to the railing so Butch took most of the pictures. The flow is much less than in spring or summer but still it is a beautiful spot.
We continued the drive, pulling over a couple of times at overlooks with stunning views of the gorge. At the first one, a nice couple from Jackson, Tennessee offered to take our picture and he confessed that he feels much the same about heights as I do. As we were leaving, a family with two boys arrived and I thought how glad I was not to be keeping track of kids in these spots. At the next overlook, there were our friends from Jackson and we exchanged a few comments.
The next stop was for Piney Creek Falls and as we picked our way down the short but treacherous trail to the overlook, we met the family again. Piney Creek is much more spectacular right now with more water than Falls Creek and the family offered to take our picture after we took theirs. Before we left the overlook, here came the people from Jackson. We're old friends by now and took their photo.
That ended the driving loop so we decided to check out the conference center and restaurant overlooking the lake. It was lunch time and we found the fare at the restaurant reasonably priced and good.
That ended the driving loop so we decided to check out the conference center and restaurant overlooking the lake. It was lunch time and we found the fare at the restaurant reasonably priced and good.
The nature center and third falls, Cane Creek Falls, are located on the other side of the campground from the morning's drive. The nature center is small but informative. Some steps outside lead down to the overlooks for Cane Creek Falls and the Cascades. Cascades just seem to be much wider falls. There is a suspension bridge just above the Cascades and I enjoyed watching other people cross. Low and behold, there are our friends from Jackson and the family with the two boys. We visited and I almost invited them for Thanksgiving but didn't know any of their names.
Back at the campground, we collapsed before making preparations for supper--salmon and roasted veggies on the grill. Our campsite backs up to a large open field and we enjoyed watching the kids--more than I've seen in any campground--play baseball, kickball, Frisbee, and turn cartwheels, until dark. It reminded me of Calhoun Street in the 70s when kids whirred by on bikes and concocted games based on the equipment they had and the number of players. Our only regret for the day was not putting a few things away before the storm hit about 9:30. Ooops again.
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