Recently, Amber and I went on a hike in the Mountain City area to Gentry Creek Falls. My dad had a chance encounter with a couple from there and in their chatter it was revealed that I enjoyed hiking. They told him about Gentry Creek and claimed it was one of the most beautiful falls in the state of Tennessee, but I had my doubts. A couple of weeks later, Amber had to work in Mountain City and once again, Gentry Creek Falls was brought up, so we made plans to knock this one off the list.

As you can see, Gentry Creek is a beautiful place

Amber is a good hiking partner despite her short legs, she trudges along nicely and having someone to talk to is always nice. Most hikes with her are spent with her fussing and cussing up the trail swearing these type things are grounds for divorce, while the hike out is her almost skipping along, talking with how easy it was.

I had read that Gentry Creek was an easy hike although it was a five miler round trip. Recently we had ran an 8k race together (5m) so I told Amber this would be easy because all we had to do is walk. "You always say that" as she burned a hole through me with her eyes, but we loaded up and made our way to the town of Laurel Blommery, unincorporated, of course. Our dog Cash even made the trip with us and he is a real hiking fool, I can only imagine the laughs people have as they pass a seven foot man with an 8lb dog prancing along behind him up the trail.

Cash having a rest

Cash hitching a ride

The trail is one of the most level pleasant hikes I've experienced but has over twenty creek crossings but none of which are too hard. Cash made great timing up the trail but at each  crossing he stopped waiting for Amber to lift him across, he has never been a fan of water. In about an hour we climbed around some rocks and I could hear the falls,  as they came into view I was thrilled. It had rained a lot that week and the flow of the falls was excellent. There was even a nice bonus wet weather falls flowing that day. The main falls is a double drop, each falls is just over 30ft high and the surrounding area is beautiful and undisturbed by human hand. The lower falls can be climbed by rooting around through some laurel and climbing a narrow ledge above the falls to the base of the upper waterfall.

Amber and Cash rested along the stream while I snapped some photos, we both marveled at the beauty and were surprised that we hadn't been here sooner. Gentry Creek Falls is indeed a beautiful waterfall, the hike itself is wonderful and was lined with more types of mushrooms than I had ever seen anywhere else. I definitely will be back to this one, sooner rather than later. Until next time, happy trails.

Upper falls at Gentry Creek

the falls through the trees

bizarre fungus