Sharing a Tennessee Blessing

On Friday morning, we left Bluff City, and drove to Spring Lake RV Resort in Crossville, Tennessee.  Chuck and I had stayed there years ago and it was even more beautiful than we remembered it.

View of lake from our site.

Ken & Bonnie's site.

Friday was a very relaxing day.  We enjoyed sitting outside in the swings and doing a little reading and snoozing.

We drove to Cookeville for an early dinner where we met some friends of Ken and Bonnie's that they had met when traveling through Cookeville earlier in the year.  Lois, who is an RVer also, had invited them to spend the night on their travels through Cookeville and while they were there, they went to dinner at Cheddar's and met Rachel who works at Cheddar's.  We enjoyed meeting and talking with Lois and Rachel over a delicious dinner at Cheddars.  It's always fun making new friends!

On Saturday, we left the campground around 8 am and drove to Fall Creek Falls State Park which is about an hour away from Crossville.  We parked at the Nature Center in the Cane Creek area of the park where we began a 3 mile hike around the gorges and waterfalls of the park.  Chuck and I had done the hike previously but it had been many years ago.

We first walked out to the Cane Creek overlook...

...and then up to the Cascades.

We explored the bottom of the gorge between the Cascasdes and the top of the Cane Creek Falls.

Our hike "officially" began behind the nature center as crossed the swinging bridge.  They only allow 6 to 8 people on the bridge at one time so we had to wait a few minutes before we could cross.

Next, we began a climb up several steps...

...and hiked through the forest filled with autumn color.

We walked out to another overlook for Cane Creek Falls off the trail that really gives a better view of the falls.

We walked out to the Rocky Point Overlook which required some climbing.  But we were rewarded with spectacular views for the Fall Creek Falls Gorge.

We continued walking stopping at the main overlook for Fall Creek Falls.

After taking a rest and eating a snack, we began hiking to the base of Fall Creek Falls.

The IceBox

I forgot how many steps and rocks there were to
climb over going down to the bottom.

We reached the base of the falls and were very careful because the rocks were wet in places down here.

We told Ken and Bonnie that years ago we had hiked behind the falls like the people in the below picture.

After a few minutes rest, we began our ascent back up to the top.

Bonnie stopped to build a small rock cairn to show she had been there.  We'll have to see if it's there the next time we come to Fall Creek Falls.  :)

There is a huge overhang here that probably makes a good place to get out from the wind and weather if you happen to get stuck down here in a rainstorm.

We made our way back up to the top and began hiking back to the Nature Center along the Woodland Trail.

After eating our lunch at a picnic table near the Nature Center, we drove Ken and Bonnie around the campground and different sites we had camped on over the years and more recently when spending 4th of July up here with Donald & Anna and family.  

We stopped at Buzzard's Roost and told them how special our family church services are out there.  

We continued our drive around the park showing them the Inn, General Store, and the golf course.  We think the autumn color made the park about the prettiest we have ever seen.  

Yep!  Fall Creek Falls is definite a Tennessee blessing.  I think they understood why our family has always liked this park and camped here off and on over the years.  

And blessings are always better when shared with friends!