The Battle at Waterloo Falls

Waterloo Falls

Continuing with my waterfall theme, let me take a few minutes to talk about Waterloo Falls near the Putnam/Overton County line.  I vaguely remember going there once when I was in college at nearby Tennessee Tech, but when someone mentioned it on a friend's facebook page a few months ago, I suddenly had the urge to return after all these years.

I googled it and found some very vague directions, and my pal Sarah and I set off one Sunday in July with her two dogs for a day in the water.  After a couple of turn-arounds and one close call with a boarded up biker bar in the middle of nowhere, we found our way to the falls.  A warning for those interested in going:  the creep factor is extremely high here.  You basically turn down a gravel road surrounded by residences with posted 'No Tresspassing' signs, and there's no indication that the public is welcome here.  There were a couple of dudes in trucks who would randomly drive by multiple times and if we were lucky, a family or two. 

We made our way to the falls and sadly realized that since the falls are surrounded by high cliffs, the only way to the base of the falls was via trespassing on private lands.  It's really a shame, because the swimming hole below looked absolutely perfect and inviting.  (If anyone knows a legal way to the bottom, please let me know!)  Luckily for us, the stream above the falls, Spring Creek, was crystal clear and equally inviting.  We let the dogs splash around and walked through the stream until we came upon a smaller stream of water trickling from the cliffs above, and landing on the most perfect moss-covered throne, just waiting for us to sit down.

Sarah's moss-covered throne

Further up the stream, we found a place to lay down in the bed of the shallow stream as the water flowed over our arms and legs.  The sun was out, the dogs were content, and butterflies were flitting around above us.  Perfection.......until we heard the gun shots.  I don't feel we were in any danger, but someone was definitely using the adjacent property for target practice.  In fact, I went back the next Sunday with my mom and Brian and this time the gun shots were even louder.  It almost sounded like they were actually shooting into the cliffs above.  Not wanting to accidently get shot, we made our way back to my car and moved on to Plan B- swimming in the Caney Fork River.  Maybe next time I should return on a weekday since apparently Sundays after church is shootin' time in Overton County, Tennessee.