General Location. Between Nashville and Chattanooga, near Monteagle. Length & Difficulty: 3 miles; Easy. Elevation Change: 100 feet. What's Special: Waterfalls, cool temperatures. Topo Maps: USGS quad 100NW, White City
[Getting There] [Hike Description] [More Info] [Contour Map] [3D View]

Getting There

Off of Highway 41 between Monteagle and Tracy City. Take I-24 to the Monteagle/Sewanee exit (exit 134). Drive into Monteagle and turn onto Hwy 41 (the road isn't marked well, but it's the only major T-intersection in Monteagle). Drive toward Tracy City. The South Cumberland Recreation Area Visitor's Center will be on your left after about a mile. It's worth stopping here to get a map of the area and to see their terrain relief map. Continue on toward Tracy City. Look for a brown sign for the Grundy State Forest on your right just outside of Tracy City (if you pass a cemetery on your right, you've gone too far). You will leave the road and drive toward a school. The Grundy Forest parking lot is just behind the school's softball field.

What's Special

The trail features three picturesque waterfalls and some nice rock formations.

Best Season

The trail is good year-round, but its shade makes it particularly good during the summer months.

Facilities

The park has no facilities other than picnic tables. The Visitor's Center nearby has restrooms.

More Information

Park Office South Cumberland State Recreation Area Rt. 1, Box 2196 Monteagle, TN 37356 (931) 924-2980 Friends of South Cumberland State Recreation Area 1441 Laurel Branch Trail Sewanee, Tennessee 37375

Hike America: Alabama The Falcon Guide to Tennessee trails lists several trails in the South Cumberland area. Recommended. Get it at Amazon.com

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Featured Trail: Grundy Forest Day Loop

This trail is almost unknown outside of Tennessee. That's a shame, because it's one of the best hiking experiences in the South. The trail is easy, shady and very, very scenic. It's the perfect spot to drag a friend who's never been hiking.

Fiery Gizzard is a long canyon at the edge of the Cumberland Plateau. The canyon is very narrow, with tall stands of pine forming a thicket overhead. The thicket and several cool streams give the place a climate surprisingly different from the surrounding plateau. Even on the hottest summer day, the Gizzard is pleasantly cool.

The park has only two trails: the Grundy Forest Day Loop and the Fiery Gizzard trail, which branches off from the loop trail. Technically the trail described here is the day loop with an excursion onto the Gizzard trail, but it sounds much cooler to say you're going to "Fiery Gizzard"than to the "Grundy Forest," so we'll call it that.

Difficulty: The hike is easy overall, with one moderate patch on the Fiery Gizzard excursion. Even though the trail is easy, many exposed tree roots cross it on the stretch near Blue Hole Falls. This may make it hard on small children. The overall length of this hike described here is about 3 miles.

The Hike: The loop trail officially begins from the right side of the parking lot and ends on the left side. I actually prefer to start the loop on the right side and go clockwise; it's more dramatic that way. You immediately descend a short, winding path into the canyon and drop into a different world. This branch of the canyon is cut by Little Fiery Gizzard Creek. The stream is fast and cuts past large boulders; all the trees are old growth pines. All in all the canyon looks more like something from the Sierra Madres than the hills of Tennessee.

Less than half a mile down steam you'll come to Blue Hole Falls, a pretty waterfall about 10 feet high. Of the three waterfalls in the canyon, this is the most attractive.

A bridge crosses the stream about 3/4 mile from your starting point. The day loop trail continues along the right side of the stream; we will return over this route. Cross the bridge to the left bank; this puts you on the Fiery Gizzard trail.

A few hundred yards further you'll come to the junction of Big and Little Fiery Gizzard Creek. The water is extremely swift here and has cut "Black Canyon," a deep gorge through the rocks about 5 feet wide and 30 feet deep. I've been told that people kayak here, though it's hard to believe.

Soon after this point he trail leaves the stream and climbs up a rocky slope. This is the moderate part of the trail and lasts for less that 100 yards. The climb is tricky; be sure to watch your step on the rocks.

Just past the rocks the trail widens again and comes to the Chimney Rocks, a tall outcropping. Just past the rocks a spur trail to the right leads to Sycamore Falls. The Fiery Gizzard trail continues for another 11 miles and ends at 100 foot high Foster Falls. We'll turn back here, though.

Retrace your steps to the wooden bridge and continue on the day loop trail. About 200 yards past the turnoff you'll come to Hane's Hole Falls. The trail climbs back to the plateau not long after this and continues for a mile before returning to the parking lot.

Note: The trail map shown above is based on USGS terrain data. While this data is very accurate, Fiery Gizzard is one of the few places I've seen where is falls short. The narrow forks in the canyon at the start and end of the trail don't really show in my map. You can get a much better map at the ranger station.

Other Trails

You can easily extend this hike down Fiery Gizzard to either Raven Point or all the way to Foster Falls. If you want to backpack, consider starting at the Foster Falls parking lot and hiking all the way up Fiery Gizzard.

This page authored by: tdahm@montesano.com