My hiking buddy and I spent a rainy Sunday afternoon at Burgess Falls, a state natural area bordering Putnam and White counties. It’s a great place for a family trek to the outdoors any time of year, for solace in winter, swimming in summer.
There’s a couple of short trails. The main trail, a mile and a half loop, winds along the Falling Water River and three small falls. The main event is Burgess Falls itself, a picture perfect waterfall. You can climb an enclosed stairway along the bluff, then a rocky trail down to the base of the falls. In summer, it’s a great place to swim, or just cool off in the refreshing mist.
We hiked down river past the remnants of two hydro-electric power plants which once provided electricity for nearby Cookeville. The first of these, nearest the falls, is pretty dangerous as the concrete floor has rotted through. Stay on the trail. The foundation of the second, a little further downstream, is still intact, and there’s odd pieces of equipment lying around—try and figure out how they were used.
Back on top, you can follow the service road back, or there’s a trail tracing the ridge leads to nice vistas of the gorge below. It’s an flat run through the woods. Both the river trail and service road trail have one steep climb, otherwise easy jaunts.
At the parking lot there’s picnic shelters and a children’s playground.
Burgess Falls is a nice place to spend an afternoon, with some great scenery, in any season.
