2 hr 15 min
By car from the Public Square, 110 mi
Field Guide 04 · Tennessee State Parks
Fall Creek Falls State Park
25,568 acres on the edge of the Cumberland Plateau, where Fall Creek drops 256 feet into its gorge. It has everything the system offers, from a lodge, cabins and six campgrounds to a golf course and 59 miles of listed trail, and trails damaged by an August 2023 tornado are still closed.
Van Buren CountySpencerOpenChecked October 20, 2026
25,568
Acres
793,134
Visitors in fiscal 2024*
18
Trails listed, 59.4 miles
Lodge
Overnight: camping, cabins, lodge
10
Activities the state lists
* Visitors: Storms closed the park for a combined 32 days that year, the plan notes.
What's there
Things to do
- Birding
- Camping
- Caving
- Fishing
- Golfing
- Hiking
- Mountain Biking
- Paddling
- Rock Climbing
- Swimming
On site
- Accessible Paddling Launch
- Adult-Sized Changing Table
- All-Terrain Wheelchair
- Bike Trails
- Birding
- Boat Access
- Boat Ramp
- Boat Rentals
- Cabins
- Camp Store
- Campground
- Canoe Access
- Colorblind Viewfinder
- Fishing
- Gift Shop
- Golf Course
- Group Lodges
- Hotel
- Laundromat
- Museum
- Playground
- Restaurant
- Rock Climbing
- Snack Bar
- Swimming
- Swimming Pool
- Trails
- Visitor Center
- Waterfalls
- Wheelchair-Friendly Overlooks
The trails
| Trail | Miles | Difficulty | Surface | Now |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base of Falls Trail | 0.35 | Difficult | Natural | Open |
| Cable Trail | 0.1 | Difficult | Natural | Open |
| Chinquapin Ridge Mountain Bike Trail | 5.45 | Moderate | Natural | Open |
| Fall Creek Bike Trail | 0.65 | Easy | Paved | Open |
| Gilbert Gaul Trail | 4.15 | Moderate | Natural | Open |
| Lake Bike Trail | 1.3 | Easy | Paved | Open |
| Link Trail | 4.45 | Moderate | Natural | Open |
| Lower Loop Trail | 12 | Difficult | Natural | Closed |
| Millikan's Overlook Trail | 0.45 | — | Natural | Closed |
| Overlook Trail | 0.65 | Moderate | Natural | Open |
| Paw Paw Trail | 2.5 | Moderate | Natural | Open |
| Piney Creek Mountain Bike Trail | 6.8 | Moderate | Natural | Open |
| Piney Falls Path | 0.9 | Difficult | Paved | Open |
| Prater Place Trail | 3 | Moderate | Natural | Open |
| Turkey Pen Ridge Trail | 0.6 | Difficult | Natural | Open |
| Upper Loop Trail | 13.6 | Moderate | Natural | Open |
| Wheeler Farm Trail | 1.5 | Moderate | Natural | Open |
| Woodland Trail | 0.95 | Moderate | Natural | Open |
As the park's hiking page lists them on October 20, 2026. Lengths are one way unless the trail is a loop, and some trails share ground, so the total is the sum of the list, not the miles on the ground.
Where to camp
- Fall Creek Falls Main Campground: Areas A - ETent & RV
- Fall Creek Falls Main Campground: Area C Primitive SitesPrimitive · Tent Only
- Fall Creek Falls Walk-In CampsitesWalk-In
- Fall Creek Falls Old Corner CampsitesBackcountry Camping
- Fall Creek Falls Piney Backcountry CampsitesBackcountry Camping
- Fall Creek Falls Eli FieldGroup Camp · Tent Only
Getting there
2009 Village Camp Road, Spencer, TN 38585
Park office: 1-423-881-5298
The park's page at Tennessee State Parks
Campsites, cabins and lodge rooms are booked online through the park's page or by phone at 1-888-867-2757, the state's reservation line.
Nearby
- Scott's Gulf Wilderness State Park19 miles away as the crow flies · 1 hr 55 min from Franklin
- Rock Island State Park19 miles away as the crow flies · 1 hr 45 min from Franklin
- Cumberland Trail State Park22 miles away as the crow flies · 2 hr 30 min from Franklin
- Savage Gulf State Park22 miles away as the crow flies · 2 hr from Franklin
How we know
Every fact on this page but the summary at the top is the state's, read on the date above, except the drive: that is Valhalla's route on OpenStreetMap's roads from Franklin's Public Square to the park office, with no traffic, rounded to five minutes. Visits are the park plan's count for the year named, mostly from traffic counters. How the guide was made.
- The park. Tennessee State Parks: the Find a Park list, the park's own page, its hiking page and its camping page, read October 20, 2026.
- Acres. The park's strategic management plan.
- Visitors. The park's strategic management plan, its site fact sheet for fiscal 2024 (July 2023 to June 2024). Storms closed the park for a combined 32 days that year, the plan notes.