Great Smoky Mountains Hiking - Good things come in Three's: 3 Miles, 3 Waterfalls, and 300 feet on the map

How is it that I'm halfway through this easy hike and haven't seen a soul? I sat down in front of this waterfall for 20 minutes, without a single visitor? In Great Smoky Mountains National Park (aka Great Smoggy Mountains), this is usually unheard of. It is afterall, the most visited national park in the country.

It's a Sunday morning, and I know the south is considered to be more religious, but damn.

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Tom Branch Falls has a way of sneaking up on you. With lower flow, you might miss it.

The beginning of this loop is wide enough to drive down, but follows Deep Creek from the parking lot.

Juney Whank wins the award for Weirdest Named Falls in GSMNP.

I was having a religious experience of a different kind this early April day, with Mother Nature as my pastor, priest, rabbi, and monk: A 2.8 mile loop that boasts three waterfalls. We're not talking about some chincy 7 or 8-foot cascade. The smallest of the three, Indian Creek Falls, drops about 20 feet. And it's not half the size of the other two.

I started at the Deep Creek hikers lot, by walking past the gate, following Deep Creek upstream. After less than a quarter mile, Tom Branch Falls snuck up on my right. Tom branch feeds Deep Creek, and its final plunge into hydro-intercourse drops 60 feet from above. The trees have just started budding, but it's obvious that this fall might go unnoticed by some in the summertime, with branches covering it and a reduced flow.

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