A few months back, I started chatting online & made friends with a fellow hiker/traveler who lived in Tennessee (totally not a murderer, more on that later). I had some vacation time to burn so I booked a last-minute trip and visited the Volunteer State in mid-November hoping to catch the last falls colors. Ended up in Cookeville, TN which is in the central part of the state and only a few hours from Great Smoky Mountain National Park and other amazing nature scenery. More to come in future posts – I have about 10 places backlogged so stay tuned!
First stop was a warm-up of sorts, and since I can’t pass up a good waterfall I visited Waterloo Falls. Just north of Cookeville on the Spring Creek river way, the top of the falls are easily accessible from the parking area by walking less than 100 yards. I didn’t know how to reach the bottom (climbing down the slippery rocks this day was inviting death, and didn’t want to trespass on unmarked gravel drives) but the view below must be awesome – maybe next time.
Hiking Data
Wow I really broke some distance records here, eh? Not really a hike at all – just including this because maps & data are fun. Proof that on this day I lazily enjoyed part of the great outdoors with no immediate urgency and that’s OK.
