Falling Water Falls, Signal Mountain (TN)
Falling Water Falls is a 110' gem found near Signal Mountain, TN. Views from the top of the falls (beware: bluffs!) can be accessed easily by walking from a small parking area on Forest Park Drive on Signal Mountain (see this for more details). Using this trail, one can walk directly to the top of the waterfall; if you cross Little Falling Water Creek, more views are available from the opposite side.
The hard (but fun) way to access the bottom of the falls is to begin a hike on Levi Road at the bottom of the mountain. When hiking, please make sure that you exit off of the road on state property. There is no trail for this adventure; you are on your own. After about a mile hike and 700 ft of ascent, you will find yourself at the base of Falling Water Falls. Don't attempt this without a GPS and a waypoint for Falling Water Falls. This is a hard mile, but well worth it!
As an added bonus for those willing to hike up the mountain to get to Falling Water Falls, one can find Levi Cave fairly soon after leaving the road. I supposedly have a GPS location for it, but had some technical difficulties and now am not sure if the fix that I have is accurate or not. So, I plan to revisit it when I get the chance [4/10/2010 UPDATE: the GPS coordinates are 35 11.139 N, 85 16.258W]. The mouth of Levi Cave is simply a 2' wide hole in the ground; however, the cave is supposedly (I only explored a very small part of it) 750' long.
The quality of the pictures here (I apologize!) is poor; these were taken with a 2MP Canon Powershot A40. I would like to revisit to take new pictures!
Update: a GPS waypoint for this waterfall can be found here.
Falling Water Falls, from top
Falling Water Falls, from bottom
Falling Water Falls Map; state property shown in yellow. Click to enlarge.
The hard (but fun) way to access the bottom of the falls is to begin a hike on Levi Road at the bottom of the mountain. When hiking, please make sure that you exit off of the road on state property. There is no trail for this adventure; you are on your own. After about a mile hike and 700 ft of ascent, you will find yourself at the base of Falling Water Falls. Don't attempt this without a GPS and a waypoint for Falling Water Falls. This is a hard mile, but well worth it!
As an added bonus for those willing to hike up the mountain to get to Falling Water Falls, one can find Levi Cave fairly soon after leaving the road. I supposedly have a GPS location for it, but had some technical difficulties and now am not sure if the fix that I have is accurate or not. So, I plan to revisit it when I get the chance [4/10/2010 UPDATE: the GPS coordinates are 35 11.139 N, 85 16.258W]. The mouth of Levi Cave is simply a 2' wide hole in the ground; however, the cave is supposedly (I only explored a very small part of it) 750' long.
The quality of the pictures here (I apologize!) is poor; these were taken with a 2MP Canon Powershot A40. I would like to revisit to take new pictures!
Update: a GPS waypoint for this waterfall can be found here.
Falling Water Falls, from top
Falling Water Falls, from bottom
Falling Water Falls Map; state property shown in yellow. Click to enlarge.
posted by Daniel Hyams | 7:59 PM
29 Comments:
Thanks for posting the maps and info on Falling Water Falls. I had been trying to find out how to get to the bottom of the falls with no luck.
Steve
Thanks for the post! Last year I went up to the top of the waterfall and it was amazing. I plan to eventually make it to the bottom.
I was surprised when I took a closer look at the map. My friends and I use to go caving off of Levi road all the time. We've been all the way to the back of that cave and it is pretty cool.
I never realized how close we were to a waterfall though. You can see a lot of my various waterfall pictures here:
http://sumdog.com
There are a bunch from around Cookeville, TN where I went to school too.
Sumit
When I was a kid/teenager in the late '70's and early '80's, before there were as many houses at the top of the cliffs as there are now, there used to be a little trail on the right side of the road... looking at the map posted above, it was basically on the un numbered bluff lot that is just about below the "F" in the words "Falling water trl". - We would pull off into the woods there and leave our dirtbikes/cars and climb down an easy spot in the cliff that lead to a trail that curved around the point and went straight to the lower part of the falls. You could even walk back behind the falls if you wanted... better be careful though, cause it'd be easy to fall. I haven't lived in Chattanooga for many many years now, but the last time I visited the area, I drove around there to see if things still looked the same and there were a lot of houses where it used to be all woods. The trail we used to use is probably in some doctor or lawyers back yard now. :-( I hope that's not the case, but driving past there, it sure looked that way.
That used to be a fun place to go. We also used to climb the cliffs around Brady Point before all the doctor/lawyer houses were there. There was a small cave in the cliffs there that was fun and lead to the bottom of the cliffs if you went the right way... or to a hell hole if you went the wrong way ;-) - We used to go to Levi cave too... and little airplane (tumbling shoals?) cave down by the river, etc. Lots of fun. I really miss living there. :-(
nat and beck say thanks for the information to the bottom of the falls! we spent a day searching with no luck on our own. we were resienged to believe the base of the falls was on private property.can't wait to get back out there!
Another quick way to the bottom is abseiling. You can get all sides of the falls that way. :)
I never realized there was even a cave there. I happen to live 2 roads away. Went down in. I was thinking it would be small judging by the entrance, but it huge. We had a blast.
Thanks for your wonderful site. I grew up on Forest Park Drive (in the 60s-70s) when it didn't even have the loop at the end. We had to follow an old logging road and trails to get to the falls. Many people didn't know about the falls at that time and most times we visited we were the only ones there. I think back on what an incredible situation I had growing up with access to such an amazing environment. By the way, we bought our house for $25,000. Things have certainly changed on Signal Mtn.
I have been searching for Levi cave for sometime and have been unable to find it.. I have searched those woods without fail, but am having no luck. Does anyone have the gps coordinates for it? Or can anyone provide a little more information about the caves location? It would be greatly appreciated!
Stacy
All my life I have head people talk about Airplane Cave but I have no idea where it is... where is it and do you have any pictures if you've been there?
Tish
Be careful about going into caves these days (April 2010) Not sure when all the posts were made - it only lists the times, not the dates, but due to white-nose syndrome all caves in Tennessee (and many other states) that have bat populations are off limits. The last I heard, we don't know what causes this phenomenon but it is killing off many bats. There is concern about humans spreading it - hence the ban on cave exploration. I don't know if this is a law or punishable by any fine, or anything, I just think we should respect the bats!!! Hopefully this will be resolved soon and we can go caving once again!
M 12 yr old daughter fell off cliff at falling water this past April 11, this past friday a 20 yr old woman dies...is there anyway to search for how many victims have had accidents at his place? thanks kboshardy@yahoo.com
I don't believe victim and accident coincide within the same sentence. What are you really trying to say here Katherine?
Tish,
Airplane cave and little airplane cave are in the area shown at this link (between cash canyon road and the river... there are a couple of pull-offs nearby where you can park):
http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=35.08321086856356~-85.35579872077051&lvl=14&sty=r
Of course, I'm sure someone will be along to scream and cry about someone posting the location of a cave. Screw 'em. They can get over it. Go enjoy yourself! :-)
Also for Tish...
The entrance of airplane is a large hole (which could probably be seen from an airplane). You would need ropes to get in that one, but the entrance to "little airplane" is only a very short walk from there, and that one is just a skink hole that opened up at the bottom. You just crawl into the hole, then things slowly open up to where you can stand up. A short time later you'll be in a huge room where flashlights will not reach the ceiling. From there you have a number of choices on where to go. Very cool cave!
LOL. I meant sink hole, not skink hole. ;-)
No such thing as a caving ban. Ask any caver. ;-) The amount of BS spewed on the internet by people who want to either "save the whales" "hug a tree" or "save us from ourselves" is just always amazing.
Just ignore them and go do what you want.
This place is VERY dangerous. Look up all the accidents that have occurred here. At least 4 in the past year. Something needs to be done to improve safety.
Or maybe people should just respect the fact that there is no nanny to save them if they fool around too close to the edge.
Nature is dangerous. That doesn't mean we need guard rails everywhere someone could possibly fall.
Has anyone camped here? I know the sign says open from dawn to dusk, however if you hike in from a different location and leave in the morning, I bet it would be awesome.
I just went to fall creek falls a few weeks ago and the kids and I cannot stop talking about it. We r going to Chattanooga for a weekend and I'm trying to squeeze in enough time to go again. The trail down to the falls isnt easy. It took me awhile to get back up it but it is worth it. It is so beautiful from every angle. Also go down behind the nature center there is a rope bridge and a super place to swim and slide down the rock and the water cascades over these rocks. I saw a wedding there because it is that pretty. It is the best park in Tennessee I have been to and I have been to many parks on tn
You have some great waterfall pics.
30 Years ago (I was about 15), I got lost in a cave between Cash Canyon Road and the river... The way we got to it, then, was from the river. We beached our canoes about 100 yrds south of the northern tip of Williams Island and hiked up the mountain.
I now live in TX but get back to Chattanooga frequently and have looked and looked but cant seem to find this cave.
Do you have any suggestions? The prior GPS coordinates that someone posted here shows a cave on the west side of Canyon Road. THe cave I am looking for is between Canyon Road and the river.
Thanks a lot
grew up on signal not far from falling water falls. It is tragic to hear of anyone being hurt in any way, but we must remember that everything we do must be respected. If we fail to respect any situation it can lead to disaster. This safety net mentality tends to restrict our way of life in almost every way now. Explore, and be as safe as possible. If you are not with someone that is skilled in that activity, and you become scared.... odds are you are in over your head!
The cave off of Cash Canyon road is called Pitchfork Cave. Some people have called it Airplane cave. It is on privately owned land and if you go in it, you should get permission from the Stolpman family that lives near the cave before you go in.
As far as ignoring the signs about not going in the caves that have been closed because of the problem with the bats- if it is posted by the government that you can't go in, then you better stay out. If you are caught, you will be in serious trouble. How can you tell people to "just enjoy yourself" by breaking the law? If it's on private property, always get permission. And always leave the cave as you found it. Don't trash it or paint the walls and definitely don't break and steal the formations.
Great cave.! Very dangerous though. Rattle snake are abundant .
Airplane Cave and little airplane cave have both been closed by the government. Too many accidents from inexperienced or drunk people who use the entrance to little airplane cave and get lost or people who attempt airplane cave, fall and die. Hate it because there are many people, like myself, who really enjoyed them back in the day. The family who own the property not only can't give permission, they won't.
Found some nice terminated Calcite specimens in some gypsum shelves!
Yep..terrible
Take the trail off Levi road right across from the olive green house for sale , the trail will split go left and straight up you can't miss it
We attempted to find the bottom of Falling Water Falls this past weekend, but all the rain made it difficult to traverse, and with 2 dogs with us, we ended up abandoning the mission before we made it. We drove to the top and watched the storm continue to roll in. Will def be going back to try it again, but this time I won't be bringing the dog.
It sounds like our mistake was partially to blame by going too far right, and not staying straight/left on the 'trail'. As you get close to the creek, the terrain is nasty to try and hike.
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