| 875 | Lower Loop Trail Fall Creek Falls State Park Trail Guide |
2013-10-28 |
For more than 25 years I have regularly visited Fall Creek Falls State Park. One of my favorite hikes in the Park is the Lower Loop Trail. Though, I never have walked the trail as an overnight hike, I think it is a great day hike or trail run and would make a great backpacking loop.
The Lower Loop is 12 miles long. There are campsites. One site is located at 2.35 miles and one at 5.10 miles. The trail crosses 3 of the Park's 4 suspension bridges and comes near the 3 big waterfalls, Fall Creek Falls, Cane Creek Falls, and Piney Falls. The Lower Loop Trail gives a great tour of the Park.
On cloudhiking.com, we have had a map of Fall Creek Falls posted and a trail guide to the Gilbert Gaul Trail, but we have not completed a guide to the other trails until now. Over the last two weeks we have been working on the Lower Loop Trail Guide. Finally it is complete!
The guide provides Trail Data, Directions, a Trail Description, photographs, Trail Notes, Trail Mileage, Topo Map Link, GPS TrackLog Links, and a comment section.
A few Lower Loop notes ...
The guide includes 45 photographs!
The map is of the main area of Fall Creek Falls State Park. It is currently being revised.
The GPS tracklogs are of all the trails in the main area of the Park.
It is always interesting to rate a trail's difficulty. Ratings are essentially comparisons. We rated the Lower Loop as moderate except for the section of the trail that goes into the Cane Creek Gorge and back out. The gorge section is difficult.
Times for hiking the trail as a day hike are 4 to 8 hours and times for running the trail are 2 to 4 hours.
The trail crosses water sources at several locations. All water should be treated.
Both campsites are good camping locations.
The trail is shaded.
The trail is crowded near the popular attractions.
All of the mentioned side trips are worthy, but they add mileage to the hike.
To backcountry camp, a permit is required. Permits are available through the Park's Nature Center.
Always practice minimum impact usage.
If you have never done this hike, it needs to be on the list! We hope the guide to the Lower Loop helps you get out there.
Happy Lower Loop Trails
link to cloudhiking.com's Lower Loop Trail Guide