Date: 09/01/2019 – Distance: 4.2 mi – Elapsed Time: 3 hrs – Ascent: 531 ft – Descent: 584 ft – Difficulty: Easy
After yesterday’s long hike, I decided to take it easy today. Plus it was raining off and on all morning and I really didn’t feel like hiking in the rain today. The rain stopped around noon.
I felt like there were still a couple small trails I had yet to see around Old Man’s Cave, and it being right down the hill from the campground, I didn’t have to hike far to get there.
I began by heading down the camp access trail to the A-Frame Bridge and Toward the Visitor Center. I took a left, but instead of going down into the cave, I took the rim. I knew there was a tunnel over here which I had not seen. There are signs for the Long Tunnel.
This tunnel has stairs and it is dark. It was also crowded with people going both ways and not much room for two lines. I had to take my time not to miss a step. There is a hand rail. It’s quite a marvel that this cave was carved by hand as it’s long and sloped to come out at a precise location on the other side.
At the other side you are on the side of a cliff. The tunnel comes out up the stairs from the west side of the Lower Falls. The view is pretty amazing up here.
There is a set of stone carved stairs down a little to the right. Then you come to a spiral staircase, which I saw last week when I was doing the Broken Rock Falls Trail.
You get to another set of stone stairs before getting to the spot where the Broken Rock Falls Trail goes straight along the cliff side. There is also a small falls coming down from the overhanging cliff above.
Since it had been raining, I wanted to check out Broken Rock Falls again since last time they were nearly dry. They were better but still not gushing. So I backtracked to the intersection at the stairs.
There was anther set of stone stairs to continue down before arriving at the Lower Falls. This fall was more intense than last week.
My next plan was to cross over the arch bridge and head back up the cave to see the rest of the falls along the creek. This is the Grandma Gatewood Trail and is also a section of the larger Buckeye Trail. The trail takes you up some stairs along the east cliff to the top of Lower Falls. Right before crossing back over another arch bridge, which takes you to the cave, the Grandma Gatewood Trail goes straight. The view across the creek to Old Man’s Cave is good from here.
You have to pass through another tunnel. There are no stairs in this one but there are some narrow stairs at the other side taking you back to topside. This view of the cave from here is good as well.
Continuing up creek, the gorge gets narrower with some spectacular cliff features.
The trail crosses over the creek several times.
Just past the stairs leading up to the Visitor Center, which are very cool too, you come to a bridge.
From here, looking up creek, you can see three bridges at once. The A-Frame Bridge towers above up on the top of the gorge with a metal bridge in the foreground, and an cool avant garde concrete bridge in the distance.
After the concrete bridge, there is another metal bridge, then you come to a stone bridge which gives a good view of Devil’s Bathtub from above.
One more bridge in the gorge and you come to the pool at the base of the Upper Falls.
You can’t go any further in the gorge from here. There is a set of stairs on the east side which lead to the Gorge Overlook Trail. You can go left from here which takes you to the bridge over the Upper Falls. I had been there a couple times, so I went right. And took the Gorge Overlook back.
Soon along the Gorge Overlook Trail, you make it back to the Camp Access Trail and the A-Frame Bridge.
I wanted to pay one last stop at the Visitor Center and read through the educational exhibits they have there. There is a lot of good stuff there: science and history both.
From the Visitor Center, I returned back across the A-Frame Bridge and back up the hill to camp.
Altogether, I hiked about four miles.