Location: Virgin Falls State Natural Area, near Sparta, Tennessee
Maps: USGS Lonewood quad, or State of TN Trail Map
Access: From N. Main in Sparts, head east on Hwy 70 9.5 miles and turn south onto Eastland Rd (at the LBJ&C BonDeCroft Headstart building), then go for 5.8 miles south to the Scotts Gulf Rd (look for Pocket Wilderness sign) and turn right and head west for 2.0 miles to the TH on the north side of the road. Road is passable to passenger car the entire way, but the logging trucks cruise like racecars on the Scotts Gulf Rd, so watch out. 
Virgin Falls Trailhead: zone16 655117e 3969117n 1760’
Trail: It is 2.2 miles one-way to Big Laurel Falls with 660’ elevation loss via the most direct “Main Trail” route. Via the “Overlook Trail” route, the distance is lengthened to 2.7 miles, with about 200’ elevation gain to the overlook that you don’t encounter on the “Main Trail”. From Big Laurel Falls, it's another 2.1 miles to Virgin Falls, with no net change in elevation, though there are a couple of minor ridges to hike over. Total round-trip from TH to Virgin Falls is 8.6 miles.
Fees: None
Dogs: No posted regulations
Weather: Local forecast

Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) is a beautiful tree, native to coastal states from Texas to New Jersey. It grows well on a wide variety of sites, and this has promoted it to the head of commercially-important timber species in the southeastern United States. Because loblolly pine produces biomass at double or even triple the rate of native forest associates, such as oak or hickory, privately-owned timberlands are most profitable if all trees except loblolly pine are removed. As loblolly pine is not native to the Cumberland Plateau of middle Tennessee, it has been common practice for many decades to clearcut the native hardwood forest, and replant it with a monoculture of closely-spaced loblolly pines that can be harvested on a 30-year cycle. Between 1981 and 2001, about 14% of the native forest on the southern Cumberland Platueau in middle Tennessee was converted to loblolly pine plantation.  The softwood lumber is used either for construction or paper production. Most of the timberland on the Cumberland Plateau is privately-owned, and as such is available for conversion to pine plantation. We all like paper and wooden-frame houses, and the upside to pine plantations is that far more timber can be produced per acre than by harvesting native forests. On the other hand, wildlife adapted to native hardwood forests find pine monocultures unappealing, and so the amount of wildlife supported per acre of pine plantation is lower than native hardwood forest. Erosion is exacerbated by clearing of native forest on steep terrain, negatively impacting water quality for both wildlife and communities downstream. And, as far as hikers are concerned, pine plantations are not appealing places to recreate (this is my personal judgment, but I feel pretty confident in stating it). As a large bulk of the paper produced goes into producing such trifling and ignoble products as glossy newspaper ads, paper towells and clothing catalogs, the loss of beautiful native hardwood forests is difficult to approve of. Tennessee bought 1,133 acres of native timberland surrounding Virgin Falls from Bowater, a timber and pulp company, in 1996, just before the company was merged into an even larger multinational conglomerate. That area is now protected from pine plantation conversion, and provides excellent wildlife habitat, water quality and recreational outlets for humans. 

We walked along the shady trail through a stand of rhododendrons along a dry creekbed, and then steeply downhill towards Laurel Creek, which we crossed with the aid of a steel cable. A campsite sits just beyond the crossing, and a few people were set up there. The lazy waters of Laurel Creek slid along through the limestone gulch to our left, and before long we reached a junction with the overlook trail. I wasn’t exactly sure where it went, or how long it was, but who can pass up an overlook? So, up we went.

The overlook trail turned out to be fairly steep, but fun. It snaked up through the limestone ledges and oak forest and, after a few wrong turns, we found ourselves at the bottom of a rickety wooden ladder with the bottom step missing. We carefully ascended to the shaded ledges above, and continued another few hundred yards to a fantastic rock overlook of Scotts Gulf named Martha’s Pretty Point. We had snacks, took photographs and enjoyed the wonderful vista for quite some time before loading up and heading back down. 

Rather than return exactly the way we’d come, we saw a fork of the trail that was labeled as a route back to the main trail, so we took it. Sure enough, after a steep descent with lots of washed-out wooden steps, it spilled us out onto the main trail right along Laurel Creek. From there it was a short distance downhill through cool, moss-covered boulders to Big Laurel Falls.

Laurel Creek falls over a cliff in the streambed with a drop of about 45 feet. The cliff face behind the falls has eroded to form a cave that sinks back into the rock some 100 feet, and slopes downward. The water that falls from above crashes down onto jagged rocks, and then sinks underground, only to reappear quite a bit further downstream, a disappearing act common for streams in this limestone area. We walked behind the falls and into the cave. What a cool spot, especially on a hot September day!

We discussed continuing on down to Virgin Falls, which was our original intent, but we had been hiking so far without any urgency, and the day had grown old very quickly. We decided it was best to head back and leave Virgin Falls for another day. The walk back was actually a bit shorter since we skipped the overlook trail, but it was just about all uphill, and though the distance isn’t that far, the addition of the baby carrier and Ada’s 23 lbs on my back sure made for a sore back. I was awfully glad to see the car at the end of it. 

The first fork in the trail brought us to Sheep Cave, and this was a completely unexpected surprise. Henry, Makenzie and I took the short spur trail to the cave, where a thin sluice of clear, cold water emerged from the 10-foot tall cave opening. I walked in a couple dozen feet before the light grew too dim to see very well. I didn't know it at the time, but because of white nose syndrome in brown bats, all caves on state-owned lands in Tennessee are closed, with the thought of trying to prevent the bat colonies from being infected and dying off. White nose syndrome, which was first spotted killing entire colonies of brown bats in New England in 2007, is still apparently a bit of a mystery as to both its origin and its exact mechanism of death, though probably this sentence will be out of date by the time anyone reads it. 

Near the entrance to Sheep Cave, the water spills off a cliff and tumbles down a series of waterfalls below until it reaches the bottom of what is, in essence, a very large sinkhole, and slips back underground. There appears to be no easy way to get to the bottom of the sinkhole.

Moving on, we cruised downhill to a shallow creek crossing, then back up over a minor ridge to Virgin Falls. Like Sheep Creek, Virgin Falls is maintained by water that emerges from a cave, falls 110 feet into a large sinkhole, and slides back underground. The difference is that there is much more water falling here, and you can easily walk down to the bottom of the falls, and even behind it, which I did. It got pretty slick behind the falls, so I told Makenzie and Henry to stay in front of the falls while I checked things out. Very cool spot there. 

The hike out was fun, and much less grueling without baby on board. The cool air helped with that, too. The entire trip took about 5 hours. 

• Summary of a 2002 study by researchers at University of the South on Cumberland Plateau forest conversion
• Background on pine plantation culture and economics from an industry perspective
• State of Tennessee's information page on Virgin Falls

Virgin Falls trail under snow

Laurel Creek

Very large icicles



Big Laurel Falls

Virgin Falls

Virgin Falls

Virgin Falls

Virgin Falls

Makenzie on the Virgin Falls Trail

At the Laurel Creek crossing