I showed up to see the waterfalls in Burgess Falls State Natural Area pretty early in the day. It was in late December and it wasn’t very busy, which was very nice. Sometimes, you arrive at just the wrong time to take pictures of certain waterfalls due to the direction of the sun, and this was one of them, at least for Middle Burgess Falls.

I got good pictures of all of the other waterfalls in the park except for this one. The sun was shining directly above the river at this point. Even so, the pictures that I got of the Middle Falls were rather interesting. The waterfall had this almost ethereal feeling to it with the fog hanging above the falls. I actually think the picture is very cool, but I would probably show up later in the day if I ever visited again.

Directions:

1. From I-40 near Cookeville, take the exit for TN-135 and head south on TN-135.
2. Follow TN-135 for a ways, until you see the sign indicating the turn for Burgess Falls. From there, its a short distance to the parking lot for the falls.
3. The signs make the hike very simple to follow.

Accessibility: 8/10 (easy/moderate)
Height: 30′
Length of Hike: 1.6 miles round-trip (to see all falls)

Middle Burgess Falls in December 2009

Middle Falls in November 2017

Where in the World is Middle Burgess Falls?