Who doesn’t love a spring backpacking adventure?
The air is perfectly crisp—refreshing compared to the summer heat and winter freeze. The crowds are thinner, too, with the full-season swing still a couple months away. And to be honest, spring flowers and snowmelt waterfalls are hard to beat.
But where should you go backpacking this spring?
Don’t worry, we’ve got some ideas. Here are 5 great spring backpacking trips for you to choose from, located throughout Middle Tennessee.
1. Fall Creek Falls Hiking
Fall Creek Falls State Park is one of Tennessee’s largest and most visited state parks. The park encompasses more than 29,800 acres sprawled across the eastern top of the rugged Cumberland Plateau. Laced with cascades, gorges, waterfalls, streams and lush stands of virgin hardwood timber, the park beckons those who enjoy nature at her finest. Fall Creek Falls, at 256 feet, is one of the highest waterfalls in the eastern United States. Other waterfalls within the park include Piney Falls, Cane Creek Falls, and Cane Creek Cascades.
2. Cummins Falls Hiking
The park’s most popular feature is Cummins Falls, a 75′ waterfall. The waterfall can be viewed from the Waterfall Overlook Trail from the overlook on top of the bluff overlooking the gorge. The park also offers access upstream from the waterfall The park also offers three miles of trail that includes an overlook of the Blackburn Fork River.
3. Window Cliffs Hiking
Window Cliffs is a 275-acre state natural area designated in 2014. It is located in southern Putnam County approximately 18 miles south of Cookeville near Burgess Falls State Natural Area. Located within the dissected portion of the Eastern Highland Rim, Window Cliffs is a prominent geological clifftop feature that consists of a very narrow, elongated ridge that lies in the neck of an incised meander of Cane Creek. While it is about 150 feet wide at its base, it is only a few feet wide on the narrow clifftop 200 feet above Caney Creek.
4. Laurel Snow Falls Hiking
Located just outside of Dayton, Tenn., Laurel-Snow State Natural Area is a popular hiking area featuring blue holes, waterfalls and historic mining structures that date back to the late 1800s and early 1900s. Laurel-Snow State Natural Area is located in a gorge that is cut into Walden’s Ridge. A number of creeks cut through the gorge: Richland, Polebridge, Morgan, Henderson and Laurel creeks. Overall, the natural area contains 10.5 miles of hiking trails, but Laurel Falls can be reached with a moderate 4.8-mile round-trip hike. White blazes mark the trail (although there are a few sections that are not well-marked).
5. Stinging Fork Falls Hiking
Stinging Fork Falls Trail is a 1.4 mile heavily trafficked out and back trail located near Spring City, Tennessee that features a waterfall and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking, running, nature trips, and bird watching and is best used from March until October. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.
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