Backpacking in Savage Gulf

Aaron loves to backpack. He keeps telling us that he has a goal of hiking the entire Appalachian trail one day. For Christmas this past year, I got him a backpack and told him that we would go backpacking this Spring. As a celebration of completing his first year of High School, I took him and a couple of his friends on a short overnight backpacking adventure to Savage Gulf.

Savage Gulf State Natural Area is located on the western edge of the Cumberland Plateau, and is made up of three main river gorges, locally known as "Gulfs."

Our plan was to hike the Big Creek section of Savage Gulf and camp at the Alum Gap campground. We would hike out on the 4-mile Big Creek Gulf Trail, and return the next day on the 3.2-mile Big Creek Rim Trail. To access the Big Creek trails, you park and check in at the Stone Door Ranger Station near Beersheba Springs, TN and hike the 1-mile trail to Stone Door, which is also the trail-head for the Big Creek trail system.

Scenic overlook on the way to Stone Door.

Here is the crew. From left to right: Aaron, Nick, and Josiah. This was Josiah's first backpacking adventure.

Nick enjoying the view at the Stone Door overlook.

Looking over the edge of the cliff into the 750 feet deep Big Creek Gulf.

A view of the cliff's edge into the gulf.

A lonely pine tree set against the vast hardwood forest. 

The Stone Door was used for centuries by Native Americans as a passage way from the top of the plateau into the gorges below. The "door" is a large crack in the limestone, 10 feet wide by 100 feet deep. In order to get to the Big Creek Gulf Trail, we had to descend through the Stone Door.

Descending through the Stone Door.

Big Creek Gulf Trail is a rough, challenging trail that leads through the gorge below and to the west of Stone Door, ending at Alum Gap campground.

On our way to the bottom of Big Creek Gulf. Just past this point, we ran across a small Copperhead snake on the trail. We waited until it slithered off the trail and made sure to give it a wide birth. 

After nearly an hour of slowly negotiating the narrow and rocky trail, we finally made it to the bottom of the gulf and found a nice clearing to stop and have lunch. 

Big Creek flows both above and below ground. Dry streambeds are very common in areas where the creek flows underground. But about 3 miles in, we finally heard running water and found the Blue Hole Sink, where Big Creek flows under a large slab of limestone and disappears.

Big Creek, just before it flows underground.

The rushing water of Big Creek

Some hikers left behind a small "monument" at the mouth of the sink.

Just past Blue Hole Sink, the trail began ascending back to the top of the plateau. And when I say ascend, I mean straight up - for almost a mile. Without a backpack, the ascent would be challenging. With a backpack, it was near torturous. I would have taken pictures, but I was too busy gulping in air and praying that I would make it to the top.

We did make it to the top, and were rewarded by a sign pointing us to the campground: our stop for the night. Alum Gap has about 11-12 sites, with the middle 4-5 sites actually on the ridge. We picked out a site on the ridge and spent the next hour or so setting up camp. Just below our site, there was a rock ledge with a great view of the gulf.

The boys relaxing on the rock ledge.

After we set up camp, we decided to take a quick hike over to Greeter Falls, about 1.5 miles away. The first mile of the Greeter trail is an easy plateau top walk with the last half-mile a moderate hike down into the gorge.

Some Mountain Laurel in bloom along the Greeter Trail.

Greeter Falls, on Firescald Creek, plummets over a 50-foot edge into a cold, clear plunge pool.

The boys decided to negotiate the edge of the plunge pool and see how close they could get to the falls.

The boys at the base of the falls

After enjoying a half-hour or so at the falls, we headed back to camp to prepare for dinner.

 At the Greeter Trail trailhead, is a small brooke that serves as the water supply for the Alum Gap camp. During the spring, there is plenty of water, and it's only a few hundred yards from camp. On our way back, we stopped and filled up all of our water bottles with enough water for our meals and our hike out the next day.

After a filling meal of freeze-dried food and a small campfire, we called it a night. The next morning, we all woke up around 7:00am, struck camp, had a quick breakfast, and headed back to the truck via the Big Creek Rim Trail. Unlike, the Big Creek Gulf Trail, the Rim Trail is an easy trail that follows the edge of the plateau above Big Creek Gulf; and offers numerous scenic views.

On our way out along the Big Creek Rim Trail.

All in all, it was a challenging yet fun excursion. The boys enjoyed it so much, they want to make it a yearly event. We'll see.