Looking for outdoor activities to do while you’re in the area for The Caverns cave tour or a subterranean show? Look no further than some of the Southeast’s most beautiful and unique hiking trails, featuring overlooks, bluff views, and waterfalls that you’ll only find in our little corner of the world.
Sycamore Falls along Fiery Gizzard Trail
Top 5 Hiking Trails On and Around The South Cumberland Plateau
By Taylan Honeycutt
Wildflowers along Grundy Day Loop Trail
Photo by Taylan Honeycutt
1. Grundy Forest Day Loop
Located in Tracy City, TN, this trail is a moderate 2 mile round trip hike and part of the Fiery Gizzard Trail in South Cumberland State Park. It’s a scenic trek loaded with small waterfalls, swimming holes, and indigenous flowers and trees. One of the trees is a massive 400 year old Hemlock tree rooted next to a rock overhang to sit and have lunch or snap some cool pics! This hike turns into a 3 mile round trip by taking a short detour to Sycamore Falls, one of our favorite swimming holes in the area.
Buggytop Cave
Photo by Taylan Honeycutt
2. Buggytop Trail
Can’t get enough of the #CaveLife? At the Carter State Natural Area in Sherwood, TN, also part of South Cumberland State Park, take a moderate 4 mile round trip hike to Buggytop Cave. That’s where you’ll find one of the largest cave mouth openings in Tennessee at the foot of the mountain below Sewanee. Looking up from the cave’s opening, it appears as if you’re in the biggest covered wagon imaginable giving it the name Buggytop Cave. The opening is 100 feet wide, 80 feet tall and beneath a towering 150 feet bluff with a river that runs through it. Please note the cave is closed during the winter months to protect the native bats from White Nose Syndrome.
Lower Greeter Falls
Photo by Taylan Honeycutt
3. Greeter Falls Loop Trail
This easy 1 mile loop trail in the South Cumberland State Park in Altamont, TN features 3 individual waterfalls, bluff views, historic areas, and a couple swimming holes. You can even swim under the falls on this one! It’s a fun adventure for families with smaller children and pets because of its low-key nature. Enjoy the beauty of three waterfalls: Upper Greeter Falls, Lower Greeter Falls and Boardtree Falls. A spiral staircase that was brought in by helicopter is your way down to the lower falls. It’s pretty magical! While you’re in Altamont, check out the Great Stone Door which offers one of the best bluff views and is easily accessible on the plateau!
Machine Falls
Photo by Taylan Honeycutt
4. Machine Falls Loop
Located in Short Springs Natural Area in nearby Tullahoma, TN, this 1.6 mile moderate hike offers some of the most beautiful wildflowers our area has to offer. Spring is a wonderful time to visit because of all of the vibrant blooms! While some of the flowers we encountered were quite rare and others were more common, they were equally beautiful. Machine Falls is 60 feet of cascading tiers that are parallel in width and nearly 60 feet across. Plants, scenery, and wildlife, this trip will be a treat for your senses!
Foster Falls
Photo by Taylan Honeycutt
5. Fiery Gizzard Trail
This advanced 12.5 mile hike runs between Tracy City and Sequatchie, TN and was featured in Backpacker Magazine as a Top 25 Hiking Trail in the U.S. With an abundance of scenery, waterfalls, wildlife and vegetation, this trail is a must see for serious hikers and backpackers. As you hike, be on the lookout for the Black Canyon, the Chimney Rock (20 feet rock columns), Raven’s Point Overlook, and even the occasional old abandoned moonshine still. If you start in Tracy City and head Southeast on the trail, you’ll end up at Foster Falls, the largest falls in the South Cumberland State Park at 60 feet tall with a refreshing plunge pool at the bottom that makes for an excellent swimming spot. Be sure to bring two vehicles to park on either end of the trail; otherwise, you’ll be hiking back the way you came!
Fun fact: There’s a legend in our area that states Davy Crockett was hiking along the creek on this trail, shot a turkey and decided to cook it up. He took a bite of the gizzard, but because it was too hot, he spit it into the creek. That’s where the Fiery Gizzard Creek gets its name!
Fall Creek Falls
Photo by Taylan Honeycutt
Honorable Mentions
A little farther from our immediate area lie some great hiking trails and waterfalls that also deserve your attention.
We recommend a visit to Fall Creek Falls State Park in Spencer, TN, one of the largest waterfalls in the Eastern U.S. at about 260 feet tall.
There’s also Rock Island State Park located at the head of Center Hill Lake in Rock Island, TN with its Great Falls, a 30 feet horseshoe cascading waterfall that’s a pretty stellar sight to behold!
You can count on both of these waterfalls always to be flowing due to flood control by dams.
Taylan Honeycutt is a cave tour guide at The Caverns and leads groups on our 1-hour walking tours as well as our adventure cave tours. He's also a photographer, editor, and manager of his own business, Honeycutt Photography. In his spare time, Taylan can often be found in the woods of Southeast Tennessee. Follow him on Instagram, @honeycutt.outdoors, to keep up with his adventures.