Solo Overnight hike to Virgin Falls

It has been too long since I got into the woods so last Friday night (I'll never be able to say that w/o thinking of Katie Perry)...so last Friday night I left my nice warm house and drove 2 hours East of Nashville to Virgin Falls Wilderness Area. I was running late due to some confusion so as the sun was setting, yes setting, I strapped on my pack, flipped on my headlamp and headed into the woods...alone.

My view with my headlamp

The temp was about 30 degrees and there was about 1" snow on the ground. The sky was a little cloudy but clearing slowly so the snow gave the woods a nice glow until the sun was completely set and then it was pretty dark. There were a few cars parked at the trailhead and several sets of footprints in the snow so I knew someone was at one of the campsites but I figured it was probably the main campsite at the falls, which I would not make it to tonight. So I walked for about an hour weaving in and out of dense areas and hopping carefully over a couple small streams (did not need my feet getting wet) Eventually I came to this larger creek crossing.

This was taken the next day on my way out

A cable had been installed to help you balance. The water was high enough to flow over some of the rocks and I do not hike in big waterproof boots so I had to remove my shoes and socks and cross barefoot. I was a little worried about this (remember I had the equivalent of a 40 lb child on my back) but took a breathe and stepped in. The rocks were not as slick as expected so with good traction and the cable I crossed quickly, dried my feet and put my nice dry socks and shoes back on and got ready to hike only to realized my campsite was just past the creek. So I dropped my pack, laid out my plastic ground cloth and went to search for dry firewood. I was able to find what I thought was dry firewood and some dry leaves under a rock overhang. I got back to camp and tried to start a fire for about 45 minutes while I heated some water on my stove for instant soup. My fire starters had little effect on the wet frozen wood so I was not going to have a fire tonight. It would have been very nice to sleep next to a warm fire as being alone is a little unnerving...not so much that animals would bother me, but that they would try to take my food, which was right next to my head. Once my stove had boiled some water, I ate some soup and cheese and crackers and make a cup of hot tea and crawled into my sleeping bag. It was so quite...almost too quite, but the stars were amazing so I laid there in the darkness w/ my tea. So peaceful and beautiful. I pulled my bag over my head and went to sleep. I slept well until 2:30 when I woke up...no reason...just woke up feeling pretty awake. I had the tarp pulled over me but my heat and breath had cause condensation to form on the plastic and started to get my bag wet so I pushed the tarp off. It had been keeping some heat in so I was a little colder the rest of the night but really pretty good except for my feet being a little chilly. I spent the next several hours trying to sleep, missing Carey's 200 degree body sleeping next to me and my pups as I dozed off a couple times but only for about 30 minutes each. I wanted to get up at 630 am but the sun wasn't really rising yet so I waited until 7 when it was fairly light. For breakfast, I had some instant blueberry oatmeal w/ fresh semi-squashed banana chunks in it which was delicious!

Video of my campsite and morning thoughts

And then made another cup of tea, packed up and started hiking. It was about 20 degrees so packing up had chilled my toes and hands so I needed to get hiking and warm up. It was perfect out. Just me and the woods and the sun working it's way up to join me. I headed towards Martha's Pretty Point, which was the scenic overlook. After about 45 minutes I had reached the top and was greeted by the sun on my face and this view!



The horizon was very clear and I could see where I was headed. I checked out a campground up there that I might have to camp at next time...how cool would it be to wake up to that view and also have the sun hit you first thing?! I headed down and onward. I delicately passed under an overhang with icicles overhead and a frozen floor that was made up of hundreds of beautiful ice formations...but was pretty sketchy to cross.



I made it past and came up to Great Laurel Falls, a 30 foot waterfall with a huge opening behind it that you could step into. There's a campsite near here as well and a fire ring behind the waterfall. The waterfall stream disappeared back into a small cave so the river went underground until it reached the Caney Fork River a 1.5 miles away.

Panoramic of Great Laurel Falls

I snapped a couple pics and moved on as I still had two miles to go till I reached the larger Virgin Falls. The next two miles very beautiful and just a nice soothing walk through the woods.



I looped around the falls and saw another smaller waterfall fed from a stream flowing from the mouth of a cave. Up the hill is supposedly another huge overhang and cave entrance but I had to move on to the falls so I didn't see it...gotta leave something for next time. I kept going and after 20 minutes I came upon Virgin Falls! Check out video here.

Notice the two guys down to the right of the falls

It was beautiful and the rain and snow had the water levels up very high so it was gushing over the falls! The falls were about 200-250 feet tall (just guessing) and the water disappeared back into a cave you can explore during dryer times. A cloud of mist had coated the trees around the base in a layer of ice.

I spotted the group of campers tents above the falls so I dropped my pack and headed up to say hello and see the top of the falls. One guy was really nice and showed me the mouth of the cave where the water that feed the falls was streaming out. He showed me a trail that walked around the falls. We chatted and then I checked out the trail. It let me around and through the ice-covered trees, which were actually pretty dangerous because temps has risen and ice was breaking and crashing down onto the trail. I watched for a little bit and slid down the trail and made it out of harms way. I then shot this video and went back towards the falling ice and about got knocked in the head by some falling chunks.

Ice almost hits me at the falls

I sat and had an early lunch of cheese and crackers and chocolate almond butter. So good! Then strapped my pack on and headed back and was glad too as it was still pretty cold and I needed to warm back up. I passed about 20 people on the way out, most of whom were going to camp and a couple of dayhikers. As I hit a couple of the more strenuous sections I could finally feel the added weight of the pack as my legs quickly got tired and I took breaks more frequently. I averaged about 2 mph as I headed out. I tried to move quickly as I knew I had told Carey I would be headed home about this time and still had a couple miles till I was out and driving towards cell reception. I reached the campsite I had stayed at and the creek crossing were I saw a couple boy-scout/military style hikers (waterproof boots and oversized packs) and they signaled for me to go ahead and cross. I quickly kicked off my shoes and socks and crossed like I'd done it several times before and then watched them cross precariously as I put my shoes on. They of course didn't need to remove their boots but at one point I thought one of them might have stepped a little deep... I was 1.5 miles from my truck and on easy trails. The scenery was new since I could not see any of this at night when I hiked in. I snapped a shot of a small set of cascades I'd heard the night before but not seen and then covered the last bit quickly and was pretty relieved to see my truck. The parking lot was completely full now and I didn't take any time to relax since I had a very nervous wife awaiting my call. As I headed down the gravel road out I got a bit of service and saw a text on my phone from Carey that read "Call me now. I'm getting worried" which means she's about an hour away from calling the park service so I quickly called and through some static was able to tell her I was headed home and could barely make out her say "I want to punch you in the face right now" and at that point I knew I was headed back to my loving wife :)