Flip Flopping to the Falls Again

This past weekend, we took a family day trip to Burgess Falls State Park in Sparta, Tennessee. We were met with this sign at the beginning of the trail and despite me wearing flip flops (I know, I know…) and the kids wearing Crocs, we went for it. Some may argue that any 3/4 mile walk is strenuous with small children in tow, and they would be correct. In this case, however, “strenuous” meant that the trail was made of tree roots, there was a steep section of stairs, there was no fencing along the drop-offs, that sort of thing. This is why my youngest is always in the baby carrier for these hikes!

This hike was pretty straightforward- head down the river and pass some small cascades, a medium-sized waterfall, and end at the largest waterfall. I would definitely go here again. That seems to be the general consensus with the places we’ve been so far, which is a very good thing because, well. We live here now. We’re going to be visiting these parks a lot.

One thing I’ve noticed lately is how huge some of the trees are around here. They would tower over a lot of the trees back in New York. Another observation is the abundance of poison ivy. It’s everywhere. It’s like they use it as groundcover or something. I may need to grab a bar of jewel weed soap to keep on hand just in case any of my little adventurers go off the beaten path.

At the end of the hike was this overlook. This area is going on my bucket list of places to revisit once we get some kayaks, because I’m sure the people at the bottom had an incredible view. At the end you have the option of going back the way you came, or walking back to the parking lot via an access road. We opted for the road because we had some super tired and hungry kiddos in tow.

Overall it was a pretty fun trip. The rest of the weekend was mostly spent hanging out at the campground. The only other thing worth noting is that I finally got a pair of shoes for hiking. Hopefully I can break them in a bit this week!