The trail down to the falls is rated as difficult. It is an eight mile hike round trip. They recommend that you allow yourself six to eight hours to make the hike. This was something that my friend Angela and I wanted to see. We decided even though we weren't hikers if we started early in the morning it would allow us enough daylight hours to make the trip it in and back out of there.
The name Caney Fork Gorge should have sent up a red flag to me. That was where the falls was located in White County, TN. Angela was much younger than me and in much better physical shape. Heading out the trail it's starts descending and continues to all of the way down. The ground was saturated from the recent rain. And some of the way the trail hung along the edge of the steep mountain side, which made keeping your footing very difficult.
Along the trail on the way in we passed three water falls and of course we take a few minutes to look at each one. We also came upon a loop trail that was a longer route to go out by an overlook, we didn't want to miss anything so we looped around to the overlook. We pass some beautiful scenery along the way as we continue on down to the bottom of the gorge. We finally made it in after what seem much longer than four miles and after taking the loop it probably was. But there it was in all of it's mysterious majestic beauty. The Virgin Falls! It appears to come right out of the rock wall that the water is cascading down. However it is actually coming from an underground stream and bursts forth out of the mouth of a cave. It falls down a drop of 110 feet then disappears at the bottom where it's hitting the rocks, just as mysterious as it appears it is gone. It is the strangest thing to see a water falls where there is no river to be seen and then to disappear at the bottom without a river for it to continue its flow in. It disappears back into an unseen cave at the bottom and gives off an abundance of mystery, as to where it comes from and where it goes.
Ok we had made it there so we decided to take a little break, sit and rest for a bit. We could enjoy the beauty of it all while we had our sandwich and prepare for the hike back out. It definitely was going to be a challenge for me and I was not looking forward to it. Since we had descended all of the way down there, the trip in was going to be a piece of cake compared to the trip out!
It was a hot and humid day. If anyone is familiar with the Tennessee weather, the humidity can get to you much faster than the heat. The saturated ground really caused a problem trying to get out of there. I would take one step forward and slide two steps backwards. As I have already said, we didn't have any experience (smile) I had only brought three bottles of water and Angela only brought two. Needless to say, we ran out of water on our way out. The thirst got so bad that we used our water bottle to tap into a smaller water fall that we were passing on the trail. The water was fast flowing so we were hoping that it wouldn't make us sick and was thankful that it didn't. This was one time that I had gotten in over my head and I thought that I was not going to make it out of there on my own. But after nine and a half hours of walking a rough and rugged trail, along with taking short rests, we arrived back at the trail head to our vehicle with a cooler with water in it! I was extremely exhausted with an aching back and legs and a extremely dehydrated body, which was causing a maddening an excessive thirst!
The wonders of nature and the view we seen that day would have to be seen from the depths of the forest. There is no describing it and no pictures that could show it's true beauty. Each time I remember this place, I have a vivid picture in my mind that just leaves me breathless! Getting to grow up in Tennessee has made me so wealthy. When you leave the roads and go into the woods it has to be the most beautiful place that God created. And this is something that money can't buy! Getting to see the "Virgin Falls" is priceless! I would recommend this trip to anyone that hikes. Would I ever try it again? No way!
L.G.V.
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