First Time at Virgin Falls - Hiking With Marvel скачать в хорошем качестве

First Time at Virgin Falls - Hiking With Marvel

In June of 2023 I was able to snag a Saturday night camping reservation at Virgin Falls, near Sparta, TN. This was before it was its own state park and camping reservations were managed by Fall Creek Falls State Park. We spent the night in a hotel in Chattanooga Friday, and made it to the trailhead just after sunrise on the Saturday morning. Signs warned this is a difficult hike and I suppose it would be for those who aren't used to hiking. For me and Marvel, it would have been a reasonable day hike. By doing it as an overnight we found it pretty easy. We started by taking the upland trail to Martha's Pretty Point. This trail is mostly along an old forest service road and is not really worth it. Martha's Pretty Point is pretty, but I'd probably recommend skipping it and driving out to Welch's Overlook at the end of Scott's Gulf road instead. View is just as good but much less work. A quick stop at Big Laurel Falls on the way down was a nice break. We made it to our campsite at the Caney Fork by 9am, then set up camp and relaxed a little before heading back up to visit the famous falls themselves. They were absolutely beautiful, especially from a little viewpoint halfway up the trail to the top of the falls. Definitely worth visiting the top to see the creek come out of the cave (also for the beautifully cool air coming out with it), flow for around ten meters before plunging into the sinkhole. We then visited Sheep Cave, which again felt nice and cool. Less excited watching other hikers ignore the "do not enter cave" rules that were in place to protect the bats. Virgin Falls is lovely, a thorough recommend. All told we did 13.3 miles with 1,700 feet of elevation over the weekend.