Last year we realized that we had several friends who had campers
and we started camping with them semi-regularly. Besides the mutual love
of camping, we all have similar age kids (mostly boys) which makes
these camping trips a lot of fun.
In March we
started planning out our camping season with them, adding in dates we
were all available through the end of summer. Coronavirus quickly put a
dent in our carefully made plans. First, with Rock Island closing and
refunding us our reservations. Talk about a bummer.
Anyways,
as our state opened back up, we revisited the idea of camping again and
were able to tentatively pencil in some new weekends. Last weekend
marked the first of such camping trips for this year.
Our
family was actually supposed to go to Rock Island for the first part of
the week since Daniel had onsite work at the Rock Island Dam.
Unfortunately, due to circumstances outside of our control, we ended up
missing that portion of the trip. Click here to read why.
Thankfully
we were able to still join our friends at Edgar Evins for the weekend.
We had six little boys running around, ranging in age from one to eight.
They had a blast. The parents all had a good time too.
We had late night meals, chats around the campfire. The boys did a
little fishing in the lake. We took a hike down to Cummins Falls, where
all of the boys were troopers. It was just such a good weekend.
This was our first time to camp at Edgar Evins. All of the sites are on
elevated decks and some of the sites had pretty steep angles for trying
to park a camper. I would suggest making sure you read about every site
to make sure you reserve a level one if you are planning to camp here.
Before leaving, we scoped out the sites that are on the water and hope to come back and snag one of those in the future.
I am so thankful we were able to get back to camping. Next week we will
be heading to Florida to see my family again and then camp at the beach.
We cannot wait!
When Daniel and I were first married we lived in Cookeville, TN. In those early years of our marriage, we spent a lot of time hiking. Partly (mostly) because we both loved it and partly because it was the only thing we could afford to do.
We hiked everywhere we could on the Cumberland Plateau, up to the Big South Fork region and over toward the Great Smoky Mountains. Our weekends were filled with endless hikes.
Cookeville has several great hikes that were pretty close to where we lived at that time. We enjoyed hikes at Burgess Falls, Cummins Falls, Window Cliffs, and rapelling at B Rock. Back in 2002-2004, Burgess Falls was the only State Park of the bunch, the other places were private property. Now these areas are all State Parks.
On Monday we had plans to meet up with my brother, my sister and her kids, and one of our cousins to do a waterfall hike. My sister had come up to Tennessee to visit family and really wanted to take her kids on a waterfall hike (Florida is not known for their waterfalls).
Our initial plan had been to visit Burgess Falls because Cummins Falls had recently been closed. I checked the website for Burgess and it said that the stairs to the bottom of the falls were closed (it currently says the stairs are closed indefinitely).
I checked with my sister and we agreed that we wanted to get wet, so we altered our plans to visit Cummins Falls instead since it was open again.
I'm so glad we did!
Among other things, the website warns that:
The hike to the gorge is not an improved trail. This is an adventurous hike and is not suitable for small children.
I initially debated if we should really take the kids there (ages 2, 5, 5, and 7), but as my sister pointed out: Our kids are not your average kids.
So, risks or not, we decided to go. We had a discussion about what to expect and made sure each kid had a grown up to stay with, and then we headed down into the gorge. (There were actually quite a few kids hiking with their families while we were there).
We opted for the 1.5 mile trail to the falls, and honestly, it was lovely. While the switch backs to the bottom are somewhat steep, they weren't that big of a deal, and there is a guard rail for the switchback sections as you go down. We live in East Tennessee and regularly hike on more difficult trails than what we encountered at Cummins Falls.
Once we were at the bottom, we enjoyed wading and swimming in the Blackburn Fork River as we made our way upstream to the falls. The kids loved that pretty much the entire hike was in water. And it was just as beautiful as I remember (though in my mind, back when it was private property almost 15 years ago, it was a more difficult climb to the bottom).
We kept away from rapids that had strong currents, but the kids were able to swim in several deep, calm sections along the way. We didn't think the hike was particularly strenuous (it would be different if the water levels had been higher), but you should take into account that you have to hike up a series of switchbacks to get back to the parking lot.
Once we reached the falls, we had to climb over a bunch of boulders to reach the swimming hole beneath the falls. There were a ton of people there and two rangers who were monitoring to make sure no one did anything stupid or got swept down the rapids below the swimming area.
The park provides a limited number of coastguard approve life jackets and I snagged one for Jack. The water was freezing, but we all waded out to the base of the waterfall. The kids enjoyed getting behind the bottom of the falls on a ledge with my brother.
And while I hung out with Isaac on the boulders to warm up, the rest climbed up to the first level of the waterfall... unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of that.
It was such a perfect day spent with family. I hate that Daniel and Robert had to miss out. I had forgotten how beautiful it is. We will definitely have to go back.
On our way home, we drove through Cookeville and I showed Jack where Daniel got his degree from and a few other places. It really made me nostalgic. We haven't been back in over 10 years!
Trail Stats:
Cummins Falls north of Cookeville, TN.
3 miles hiked, mostly in water.
1 large waterfall viewed.
