OK, I have mixed feelings about Rutledge. There's a place where two cliffs come close together forming a small passageway to walk through, called the Stone Door. We learned this the hard way! Before or after Greeter Falls, check out the Stone Door hike - it has easy trails, and you end up at a breathtaking mountain vista where you can see forever. You have to use the restroom at the ranger station at the Stone Door, 12 minutes away. Quick overview: Swimming hole / cliff-jumping / rock-scaling / spiral staircase It can get slippery, but there's a railing, and if you stay low to the ground you'll be fine. After the staircase, you'll go across a kind of slanted wooden plank to get to the falls. If you're afraid of heights, just be aware that it's worth it, and it'll be over soon :). At the end of the trail before the waterfall, you'll descend a very narrow, winding staircase down to the falls. But there are narrow pathways with sheer drops without railings, so be super careful with small children. The hike itself is less than a mile, and you'll pass amazing cliff formations, caves, and flowers. The most important thing to know about Greeter Falls is that you will have to do some careful maneuvering to get to the falls. Lots of big boulders for sunning yourself. Greeter Falls has become one of my favorite places in Tennessee - there's so much to love. I had the best pumpkin smoothie there last time. It's a funky little health food/antiques/garden/yarn shop with a creamsicle-orange food trailer behind it called The Crescent Cafe. Make a stop at Mooney's Market and Emporium in Monteagle, TN just off I-24. Quick overview: Swimming hole / short hike / uphill return / suspension bridge The return hike requires stamina as you're going uphill at a pretty steep slope, but there are plenty of places to hold on or rest if you need to. There's another rocky area to the immediate right of the waterfall where you can sun yourself on big rocks and let all those wonderful water ions fall on your skin. Adults or bigger kids can venture out and swim in the deeper waters along the rocky edges or, if you can brave the frigid water, underneath Foster Falls itself. The water is shallow near the shore, so small children can wade there. Before you reach the waterfall, you cross a suspension bridge and end up on a small sandy/rocky beach area with the swimming hole and waterfall spread before you. A few steps into the hike, the towering trees and mossy rocks will make you feel like you're in an ancient, magical forest in the Pacific Northwest. The hike is short, and even though you're hiking downhill the entire time to the waterfall, the natural rock formations form stairs that are fairly easy to climb over. Perhaps Foster Falls is so dear to my heart because it's the first Tennessee waterfall I visited in my post-college early 20s days living in Nashville. Now, I always check beforehand to ensure that the water is flowing. there was no waterfall, just a big silent pool. Lesson learned the hard way.we once visited Foster Falls one October with friends from out of town and when got to the bottom, it was eerily quiet. Look at the most recent posts and see how much water was flowing in the photos other people just posted. One day I'll be a hardcore rock climber wearing Athleta gear 24/7, but this is real life with small children, ya know?īefore you read, keep this big tip in mind: go to Instagram and check the hashtag (or location tag) for the waterfall you're wanting to visit. In this post I'm keeping a running list of the waterfalls we've visited (and re-visited) so far - all doable and fun adventures with our two young girls (3 and 7 when we started). There are literally good vibes coming out of waterfalls! Which explains why we can't stay away. Negative ions help lift our mood, reduce anxiety, strengthen resistance to illness and even keep our airways functioning well. I've since learned a fun fact: waterfalls release tens of thousands of negative ions per cubic centimeter - 3 or 4 times the amount of normal fresh air. Since our little family of four moved to middle Tennessee (south of Nashville) in 2015, we've sorta become addicted to chasing waterfalls. I think we were just so starved for natural beauty, green, and rushing waters after living in big city Dallas for 11 years! So we started taking mini road trips on Saturday or Sunday afternoons to explore the many waterfalls within a 2 hour drive of the Nashville area.
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