What brings six hikers into the woods on a hot, humid day? Why, a beautiful creek that twists & drops multiple times creating beautiful cascades & waterfalls, of course!!
The hike to
Gee Creek Falls has it all… water falling everywhere, rock scrambles, a
mysterious ending point, & an intriguing relic concrete structure that
remains in place today.
Always up for
a good adventure were Tom, Carl, John, Mike, Lori, and hike leader Jennifer.
The first part of the hike is just an easy walk through the woods but quickly
begins to get rocky with a slight incline. After passing several cascades, the
group encountered its first rock scramble, which required some careful
footwork. Next, we spotted something very unnatural in a natural setting… a
concrete flume of some sort. After the hike, we learned that the structure was
a concrete water diverter or flume placed there by the Tennessee Copper
Company. The company, in operation from 1825-1860, wasn’t mining copper at Gee
Creek but instead using the flume to wash mined silica that was used in the
copper smelting process… providing flux for furnaces processing copper. Almost
200 years later, Gee Creek still flows through this flume today!
Soon, the
group made it to Gee Creek Falls… a beautiful 25 ft. waterfall. The beauty of
the falls isn’t its height but how water diverts around stones to create a twin
waterfall effect. After taking a break & getting a great group picture at
the falls, some of the group soldiered on for more adventure. Crossing the
creek meant getting our feet in the water. We all decided just to plow through
in our hiking shoes & boots (who has time to put on water shoes?!… haha!),
and the water felt amazing! After crossing two creeks & scrambling through
more rocks, we came to several cascades & another beautiful waterfall. This
was our turnaround spot. The trail does continue on after this point, but the
trail is a bit overgrown, requires many creek crossings, hurdling lots of
blowdown, & following a faint trail that eventually disappears, so we
decided to save that adventure for another day. We had a great group & had
a good time on the trail. We also had a tasty lunch after the hike at The Local
Goat near the carpool meetup location in Ooltewah.
If you would like to see some really nice pictures taken during this hike, click here.
The love triangle soon turned into a wrecktangle.
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