Virgin Falls Trail

Virgin Falls Trail is a 4.3-mile one-way trail in Scott's Gulf Wilderness State Park, Tennessee. It is rated hard, has a natural surface and is open to hiking. The Virgin Falls Trail, beginning at the Virgin Falls Parking Lot at 2080 Scott’s Gulf Road presents a tough hike. It is 4.3 mile in on the main trail, and loses over 1000 feet in elevation. And on the return trip, the elevation is regained. This trail requires a certain level of fitness before heading out. The trail leaving the parking area meanders down to the Big Branch of the Big Laurel Creek through an upland oak-hickory/chestnut oak hardwood forest crisscrossing a fern-dominated upland drainage. Upon descending into the gorge, the vegetation changes to hemlock and mixed mesophytic forest, which includes maples, oaks, tulip poplar, hickories, buckeye, basswood, cherry, yellow birch, sycamore, and many more species. Mountain laurel, magnolia and several ericaceous shrubs (such as various wild blueberries) are common along the trail. The trails pass by small rockhouses, boulder fields, sinks, caves, and waterfalls en route to Virgin Falls, where the trail ends. 0.15 miles: Upland Trail to the right, Virgin Falls Trail to the left 1.05 miles: Hemlock Springs Trail to the left, Virgin Falls Trail to the right 1.35 miles: Big Branch Falls 1.6 miles: Cable Crossing over Big Laurel Creek, can be high after heavy rains (Use Hemlock Springs Trail as an alternative). Cable Crossing campsites across Big Laurel Creek 1.8 miles: Upland Trail right, Virgin Falls Trail left. 2.4 miles: Big Laurel Falls, last source of water from trail until Virgin Falls 2.5 miles: Left to Hemlock Springs Trail, right continues on Virgin Falls Trail 3.6 miles: Junction and beginning of the loop: Sheep’s Cave Trail on right, Virgin Falls Trail on left 4.0 miles: Caney Fork campsites on left, Virgin Falls Trail on left 4.3 miles: End of trail at Virgin Falls, left is kiosk to Rylander Cascades Trail, Right uphill is Virgin Falls campsites and Sheep’s Cave Trail. Listed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (Tennessee State Parks).