We did it!!!

After months of planning and preparation, assembling a team of experts (an RN, experienced back country hiker, and a couple of pack mules… and my husband of course), and much worry about the weather, myself and a team of five other individuals made a hike to a place very few people ever have been.  We made the trek to the base of Piney Falls which is located in Fall Creek Falls State Park.  It was 10 HOURS of the most grueling hiking of my life!  I really enjoy hiking and would generally call it a fun activity…but not this time.  There was nothing fun about this.

But, was it worth it?  Yes!  I saw some of the most spectacular scenery I’ve ever seen.  Unfortunately, I only took a few snap shots along the way because I knew that we would be hard pressed to hike out by dark.  I had a single purpose— to photograph Piney Falls.  This is the only waterfall in the park that is not clearly visible.  Here is a snap shot I took of it from the overlook a couple of years ago…

We went in January just to take pictures of Piney Falls hoping that we would be able to get a better view with the leaves off the trees.  We were very disappointed.  If you decide to visit Fall Creek Falls State Park, this is all you will see of Piney Falls.  I know, I know.  It’s not very impressive from this angle.  But I KNEW there had to be something spectacular hiding behind all those trees.  I just had to get there to photograph it so everyone else could see it too!

We started hiking at 7:30 a.m. on Monday.  It was still twilight down in the gorge.  After two hours of hiking, the sunlight finally rose above the gorge wall and started peeking through the trees…

One quick snap with the trusty point and shoot camera and we were on the move again.  We hiked upstream for what seemed like MILES, sometimes hiking the creek bed – other times scaling the gorge wall depending on the depth of the water.  It was VERY difficult.  But there were a few times that we came upon a place in the creek that was so peaceful and serene…

Yep, another quick snap with the trusty point and shoot camera Do you notice the ribbon tied around the tree on the right side of this snap shot?  All the scenery looked the same and we decided to drop part of our gear behind a bigger tree up the hill just a bit.  We brought camping gear with us ::just in case:: we were not able to hike out before dark.  We saw no point in carrying it the entire way, so we dropped it on some flat ground at a point we were sure we could get back to before nightfall.  I marked this tree with a ribbon so we wouldn’t walk past our gear on the way out LOL!  Also, it was an obvious sign that we had been there just in case we needed to be found (thank goodness that wasn’t necessary!)

For five straight hours, we hiked.  Since I had to drop my pack to pull out my point and shoot camera, and I did NOT want to sleep in this gorge, I decided to not to take any more pictures of the creek as we hiked.  After all, everyone has seen a creek before, right?  We kept pushing forward for HOURS.  Even when the creek went completely dry (as in, NO water in the creek) we kept going.  How can a creek downstream from a waterfall have no water in it?  Strange…

It was a joyous moment when we finally heard Piney Falls.  But God had one last joke planned for those foolish enough to make the trek to Piney Falls— boulders.  Scaling boulders the size of houses while carrying 25 pounds of camera gear on my back is NOT fun!  :-(  We would scale a few boulders, and I just KNEW we would be able to see the falls when we got over/around them, but nooooooooo.  More boulders.  They were never ending!!!  But finally, we came upon two, house sized boulders with a human sized “rat hole” between them.  I crawled nervously through this hole which revealed one of the most beautiful sights of my life…

Piney Falls

It was STUNNING!!  All the pain of the hike was instantly worth it!  But then we noticed something odd which explained the lack of water in the creek leading up to the falls.  Evidently there must be a cave in the pool at the base of the falls because all of the water was draining out and there was a visible whirlpool on the surface.  Now I understand why the park service has not made this waterfall more accessible.  The pool, which looked very inviting after a 5 hour hike, is DANGEROUS!  There is a current that can pull down trees – literally.  If someone decided to swim in this water, it would be a very sad ending to their life.

I spent 10 minutes photographing the falls.  Here’s a snap my husband took of me while I was working…

After 10 minutes of photographing, I packed up the gear and said, “Let’s go.”  One quick group shot of everyone else with the point and shoot camera and we were off!

(a little fill flash would have helped this, but I was on a mission – I wanted to go HOME!)

Yes, after 5 hours of hiking, we spent a grand total of 10 minutes at this beautiful location.  I did NOT want to sleep down there!!!  I pushed HARD to get home.  I bypassed things I said I would photograph on the way back (I’m kind of regretting that decision now, because there was about 30-45 minutes of daylight left when we got out).  I did not stop until I reached the spot where we had dropped our gear.  We spent 30 minutes eating and resting so we could make the climb out.  We had to climb a hill that averaged 60 degrees incline (80 degrees in places).  It was a climb of about 1/4 mile.  Walking on a relatively flat surface, I can cover a whole mile in about 12-15 minutes.  It took just over an hour to climb this 1/4 mile “hill”.  Unbelievable!

I’m not sorry I made this hike.  It really was worth it to be able to share the image of this beautiful place with the rest of the world.  However, I STRONGLY discourage anyone from attempting this hike.  There is no trail.  There are obstacles that you can’t even imagine.  The water is dangerous.  And it was downright HARD!  The park rangers don’t even go to the base of Piney Falls!  (very often anyway)  Besides, there is a picture of it now.  No one else needs to go there And I will NOT go there again!  No way!!!