Hiking at Fall Creek Falls

Fall Creek Falls in the Spring

Fall Creek Falls State Park is a huge park, comprising over 20,000 acres of nature, complete with campground facilities, playgrounds, picnic and grilling facilites, creeks, cascades, waterfalls, suspension bridges, and a nature center. If that isn't enough, there is also a golf course, a lake and an inn. We first visited Fall Creek Falls State Park in the spring of this year. We were smitten with the park's beauty and planned to come back again in the fall.

Fall is a beautiful time of year in Chattanooga. From late September to mid October, we'd get cool mornings, sunny days followed by colder nights. This kind of weather is perfect for hiking the mountains around here. I offered my ESOL students and their families to hike with us at Falls Creek Falls. The park is an easy hour and a half's drive from downtown Chattanooga. After hiking a couple of trails, we had a picnic. The kids had a blast, as did the adults. Hoping to see more fall colors, we went again the following week. Unfortunately, the leaves that had turned were either blown away or were brown; they did not get a chance to reach its peak of brilliant reds, oranges or yellows, like the fall colors you see up north.

George Hole

Fall Creek Falls in the fall

Cane Falls

But our hikes down the cascades to Cane Falls and Fall Creek Falls, and our walks on the swaying suspension bridges were exhilarating and lots of fun.