Sophia Falls

Sophia Falls 

Kenny & Dana Koogler 

January 2019

Pictures are here: Sophia Falls Pix

Sophia Falls on Tennessee Landforms

  Back in Summer we tried to find Sophia Falls. It was a rainy day. The original plan for the day was to attempt to hike to three seldom seen waterfalls.  Two new to us and one oldie but goody.     We were able to ford Tellico River that day and ventured up to Wildcat Falls successfully.   We then went to try to find Sophia Falls which was a Brian Solomon discovery.

It was supposed to be down below the old Bald River Road off trail.   We spent a lot of time hunting up the area above it only to be put off by the terribly steep terrain and tons of Summer vegetation.   It looked like it needed to be approached a different way.  We scratched that and went on to Torino Falls.  The rain began to come down in earnest and once we made it back to the jeep we called it a day.   We vowed to do some more study on it and make another attempt to see Sophia Falls. 

Above: A bluebird day along Smithfield Road

     

   Fast forward to January 2019 and the first sunny Saturday we'd had free in a long spell.

We both decided after looking it over we'd try to find Sophia Falls today.   We would not try coming in from the Wildcat Road and Bald River Road again.  It just looked too steep and treacherous.   Additionally the stream below the falls looked like it would be a pretty place to 

hike off trail.  Maybe we'd even find some other falls!?!   We came in as Benjy Shaw, one of Kenny's co-workers suggested.  Came in off Hwy 68 and took Smithfield Road around to the Bald River Road and it was a much better trip.  Shorter and more straight forward.  

  We stopped at Tobes Creek Falls down at the road's intersection and took some photos and looked around.  Tobe's Creek Falls is pretty, but it is a rather small cascade.  Even with lots of water coming over it we did not find it too special.   

Above: Tobe's Creek Cascade is about 14 ft high.

Below: A crazy looking rock with angles cut in it. The river bed of Tellico River is similar to this only the edges are straight up and down instead of tilted!  

Above: Kenny has forded Tobe's Creek below the cascade and went on down to look for more waterfalls.  He indicated there was nothing worth heading down there for. 

    We drove on up Old Bald River Road very slowly looking around for places that looked like maybe someone was hiking down from there.   I had told Kenny based on what I'd seen from the map the terrain around the falls was super steep. I figured we'd probably have to come in from down nearer the road intersection and hike up the stream from there.   We looked and looked. We finally spotted a trail heading into the woods and down toward Tobe's Creek.   It was Warriors Passage Trail.    We found a place to park and walked up to that and hiked it as far as the creek.  Once there the trail forded and went away from the stream in a different direction.  We were all off trail from here.  The creek crossings were so numerous and just deep enough I was not in the mood to keep changing back and forth from boots to water shoes.  I decided to full throttle it and just plow through.    I left my boots on and was thankful the day was warm. The water was surprisingly warmer than I expected it to be!  Especially for a mountain stream.   We kept following the streams up and finally came to a point we were not expecting.   The stream drainage split and we could see we needed to go up the left side.   Kenny remarked he bet we'd be in the drainage we were just standing high above.   I imagined he was right, but I still would not have believed it possible to approach this falls any other way than from the bottom up.

Steep terrain that holds Sophia Falls. Looking back down this hanging valley.

       

  We began climbing steeply and seeing an increase in the volume of the stream.

Kenny began shouting he could see the falls.  Lo and behold I popped round a corner and there it was!   Sophia Falls is listed as a 60 footer.   It is every bit of that and a bit more if you count the cascades below it.   It was there in all its glory.  The terrain here was indeed steep but not unmanageable at this point.   I just had to take my time and work my way up to where Kenny now stood.   I heard something and looked up at the steep cliffs above us.  I could see a truck!!!! 

Sure enough the road was immediately above us.   I knew that if the road was that close there was a pretty good idea that 1. we had once again made the trip way harder than it had to be and 2. we were NOT going back the way we had come.    I was on one had relieved to think we might not have to cover all that ground on the return trip and a little scared at the idea of trying to climb out of this hole!

Looking straight up at the spot where I got a glimpse of a maroon truck!  See? You thought I'se jest kiddin' didn't ya when I said steep! 

Above the terrain was fairly open which was a mercy.  You don't have much to hold onto or space to walk on along here.

Above silky shot of Sophia Falls from the base

Above: a littler further up from the base.. Sophia Falls

It reminded me a tad of Mill Creek Cascade in the Smoky Mountains.  A long, winding cascade down the mountain!

Once we got to the view in the photo just below I began to be a tad more hopeful that we could hike out up top.   You can just make out Kenny's blue shirt in the photo on the left of the falls.

The view below is taken at the spot where the way point was taken.   Right at the base of the uppermost portion of the falls.   

Photos don't do it justice.   

   Once we got here we began our trudge out. Kenny went ahead of me scouting to see if we could find a way out.  We did indeed make it out to the road and while it was steep and tough, it was shorter.    Once you've seen that it can be done it would not be bad to come down this way.  Especially during cold weather when the snakes are asleep.  I'd still not want to do it during Summer since the vegetation would have been thick!   We were both tickled to death to see the dirt road.

We hiked it back down to the truck enjoying the sunshine and the spectacular views of the surrounding mountains. 

Beautiful views out over the mountains from Old Bald River Road high in the Southern Unakas

Finally here is a video of Sophia Falls in all its glory.