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Waterfalls in the Rock Creek Gorge - 1 Cherokee National Forest, Polk Co., TN |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2017) |
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Waterfalls in the Rock Creek Gorge - 1 Cherokee National Forest, Polk Co., TN |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2017) |
| There are at least a dozen named waterfalls in this gorge. I visited 5 of the ones at the lower end on this day, walking upstream from the Clemmer south trailhead. There was evidence that this was another area hit by last fall's regional wildfires. |
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| Lower Rock Creek Falls |
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| 1938 photo of Lower Rock Creek Falls, taken by Albert (Dutch) Roth Roth titled this image "Thornburg Mountain Falls". The large round boulder at brink of falls on right side is partially obscured by a fallen tree in my photo above. Rock Creek Falls (see below) is visible in the rear. |
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| Rock Creek Falls |
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| 1938 photo of Rock Creek Falls, taken by Dutch Roth Titled "Falls between Benton Falls and Parkville Lake". |
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| Rock Creek Falls |
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| Rock Creek Falls |
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| Chestnut Mountain Falls, on Rock Creek |
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| Chestnut Mountain Falls |
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| 1938 photo of this waterfall, taken by Dutch Roth |
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| Stone amphitheatre in which Chestnut Mtn Falls sits |
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| A rare selfie, showing the scale of the falls |
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| Chestnut Mountain Falls, a different angle |
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| Big Bluff Falls on Laurel Branch (Waterfall name/ID per Tennessee Landforms website.) |
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| Upper section of Thornburg Ridge Falls, on Laurel Branch. (Waterfall name/ID per Tennessee Landforms website.) |
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| Same waterfall, taken by Dutch Roth in the 1930s. |
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| View under the rock slab bridge at brink of Upper Thornburg Ridge Falls |
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| Top of Thornburg Falls' upper section, showing the water flowing under the rock slab bridge. |
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| Burned bank along creek; evidence of this past fall's wildfires. |