Snowfall in the mountains is all part of Winter in East Tennessee. A byproduct of this is great water flow on cascades and there is none any better than the place I visited on Sunday...Margarette Falls.
The trip to one of my favorite waterfalls was the final chapter of the story of the day. The main part of this story was my aborted trips not to one but two other spots. My original plan was to head to Old Forge (where I was at last weekend) and hike the loop that takes its name from the campground. Made up of the Little Jennings Creek, Jennings Creek, and Cowbell Hollow Trails I first did this five-mile loop hike back on May Day in 2019. The one thing about hiking out of Old Forge is the crossing of Jennings Creek at the back of the campground. In low water, it isn't too tough to cross but when the water gets up it becomes wade across. One thing that can cause the creek to swell up is snowmelt and I don't know why it didn't come to mind when thinking of this hike. I mean I thought of going up to Camp Creek Bald because I wanted to chase snow.
So, when first heard the Old Forge Falls behind my campsite (number eight) that I knew there would be a problem crossing Jennings Creek. I was going to have to wade that was obvious. While my boots are waterproof that is only if the water doesn't go over the top. I could take off my boots and socks, but it was around freezing out and that was going to be a cold wade across...really cold. This was only the first of 35 more creek crossings. Anyway, I decided to abort this hike, but where would I go instead?
I decided why not where I thought about earlier, Camp Creek Bald. I had seen snow on top earlier and that was confirmed when I got past the sign at the Greene Mountain Road junction on Viking Mountain Road. However, I started seeing snow on the sides of the road, and even more so by the time I left the paved part. This happened to me before when I made it up to the Viking Mountain Overlook back in October of 2017. I thought if I could make it that far I could hike the half-mile the rest of the way up. Well, a half-mile up the gravel section I hit an iced-over road with over three miles to the overlook, so putting safety first I headed back done.
While on the way to Camp Creek Bald I passed the turnoff for Margarette Falls. Since it was one of the closest hikes to Greeneville I decided to head there. Also, the water flow from the snowmelt meant that Margarette Falls and the other smaller cascades would be beautiful. Plus since it was 12:30 pm it being three miles was also a good thing.
The hike turned out out to be every bit as good as expected. All the falls on the way up to where roaring, including Dry Creek Falls. One thing about this trail, there is only one tough creek crossing at Charlie's Hole. Most people I encountered on the hike turned around here, but after my day there was no way I was not crossing. Besides I had heard enough from Pete already. Let me say while a tough crossing Margarette Falls was more than worth it. Just like the hike which I got to the long way round.
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