Monday, July 23, 2018
DuPont State Forest - a little off the beaten path but a great destination.
DuPont is situated less than 20-miles from
Hendersonville, NC which is due south of Asheville. From Asheville give yourself 75-minutes to
get there. Most of the drive is on two-lane roads.
From the ranger station there is a well maintained, well marked, 3-mile
trail that takes you to two beautiful waterfalls and a nice covered bridge. The trail is relatively clear of roots and
rocks allowing you to actually enjoy the surroundings and not constantly
looking at your foot placement.
High Falls, at 125-ft is the first waterfall you will encounter by taking the trail counter-clockwise. Go past the fall’s view point on the main trail about 50-yds to take a path down to the bottom of the fall. To get your best view you may need to get your feet wet or bushwhack through some muddy shrubs.
A little over a mile further up the trail is Triple Falls. There is a nice stair case with several landings taking you down to the ledge of the lowest tier of the falls. The ledge is roped off denying actual access to the water, but you are close enough to get the spray. The climb out is 122-stairs. Take the spur trail toward Hooker Falls and you can take a path to the water for wading.
There are covered picnic areas situated throughout the park and we saw a couple people fishing and others swimming down stream from the falls. The loop trail from Triple Falls takes you back to the ranger station through the woods.
This is a great hike for families. The park is dog friendly. I understand that in winter when the falls freeze it is gorgeous.
Cummins Falls State Park
One of the newer state parks in Tennessee, Cummins Falls
State Park opened in 2012. Just north of
Cookeville, the park is centered around the 75-ft high Cummins Falls and the plunge
pool at its base.
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| Blue line signifies short-cut route to river. Click to enlarge. |
A little over an hour east of Nashville off I-40 exit 280,
the park is an easy day-trip. From the
I-40 exit, the park is less than 13-miles.
The parking area at the park has restrooms and a small ranger cabin. The day we were there a large fly tent was
set up with a vendor selling barbeque and there was a general store just
outside the park entrance if you needed refreshments on your way out.
The trailhead was well marked giving you an option for a
short-cut to the river in lieu of the main trail that takes you first to an
overlook. We
hiked to the falls via the overlook which added some distance to the trip to
the base of the falls. After we descended a couple 100-ft to the water we
followed the a trail that paralleled the creek for a while before having to
wade about a half-mile upstream to the falls. You cannot get to the falls without getting
your feet wet, so if that is a concern this would not be the hike for you. The trail crosses the river twice, but I ended
up wading most of the river portion of the trail because it was easier than the
narrow rocky trail that paralleled the stream.
This was a great experience and we loved fantastic plunge pool at base of falls. Park Service has plenty of life jackets for kids or those incline to use one. We, along with many others took full advantage and cooled off in the pool, climbing the tiered falls.
I’m in my 60’s, my son is in his 30’s and we had a great time. I would recommend this to anyone of any age. Just be aware that you have to wade in some knee deep water (I wore boats & changed into water shoes, others wore trail sandals; flip-flops are not recommended).
On the return route we took the short route back to the trail head cutting off maybe 1/2-mile.
