Last week’s article was about fall leaf colors. This week’s will showcase those colors at one of Tennessee’s most popular state parks: Fall Creek Falls. I was invited by the Tennessee Trails Association to speak about the migration of Monarch butterflies to Mexico. What a perfect weekend for the conference!

Due to the drought, the park’s waterfalls for which they are famous were not much more than a trickle if they were running at all. Fortunately, the beautiful fall leaf colors and a few wildflowers offered fabulous views. Brilliant oak trees, red maples, golden sugar maples, scarlet sourwoods, multi-colored sweet gums, evergreen pine and hemlock trees created a patchwork quilt of color blanketing the forests.

The lack of rain has created a rare opportunity to be able to safely walk in the creek beds. Cane Creek Falls below the Nature Center is one of the first waterfalls visitors can see in the park. Normally it is roaring, plunging 85 feet, but during our visit it was barely flowing. However, the low water allowed adventurous visitors the opportunity to safely walk near the edge of the falls. The reflections of the trees in the quiet pools mirrored the beauty of the trees above.

By late October, most wildflowers have set seed or gone dormant for the year, so it was a nice surprise to see trees covered in yellow flowers. Witch Hazel is one of the last flowers to bloom in the year, the four stringy petals add a pop of color along the trail sides. When the fruits mature the following year, they add a pop of sound as they open, explosively shooting their seeds several feet.

I felt sorry for first-time visitors who came to see the park’s namesake waterfall, Fall Creek Falls. What is usually a spectacular 256-foot cascade was just a small trickle. I explained to them on the hike to the base of the falls that on a normal day they would get a drenching from the spray if they tried to walk on the rocks near the plunge pool at the bottom. I suggested they return next spring when the wildflowers are in bloom and the falls are in their full glory.

Kris Light photographs wildflowers, animals and anything of interest with many of her best photos used in her website: click Search All Galleries to see photos. Her Outreach Science classes are available for public, private and homeschool groups through the AMSE. Kris welcomes questions at email.