What do you want to name your trip?

How are you using this trip?

Save Cancel

What do you want to name your trip?

How are you using this trip?

Starting Address (Optional)

Ending Address (Optional)

Continue Cancel

If you choose to use/customize this trip, your current itinerary will be replaced!

Yes, Use/Customize Cancel

SPECIAL THANKS

We'd like to extend a special thanks to the following folks who helped us make this project possible:

We'd like to that our funders USDA Rural Development , Tucker Foundation, Tennessee Department of Tourism Development, the Cracker Barrel Foundation, our sponors, and the numerous other private and public donors that made this Web site and it's promotion possible.

MMA Creative
Thanks to Darrell Kerley, Jesse Kaufman, Donna Zec and all the Web site programmers at MMA Creative for nuturing the idea of this project and making it a reality. 

Thank you Randy Williams of the Upper Cumberland Development District for giving this project the Edge, and thanks to all our members and partners who have always participated with the Alliance, and supported our efforts to pursue a more inclusive vision for the region's future.  

 

Close this box

As you discover activities and attractions on this Web site, click the button to add them to your planner, then Print or Download your itinerary for the driving directions to each stop on your trip plan. 


Close this box

Use the Quick Search option to navigate the interactive map.  
Use the Advanced Search option for a more detailed
interest-based search that affects the List, County, and
Event view as well as the map.

When you are finished with the Advanced Search,
be sure to click the Clear Search button at the bottom
of the Advanced Search toolbar.

Close this box

Close this box

 
Natural Sites Natural Sites

Colditz Cove State Natural Area

Colditz Cove State Natural Area

The Best Waterfalls

Tennessee's Colditz Cove State Natural Area is a great day hike and waterfall for trekkers in the vicinity of Rugby, Big South Fork, and Sgt. York State Park. Droping over 60 feet from a rock ledge, Northrup Falls is one of the most photogenic waterfalls in the Cumberland Plateau. It flows through a scenic narrow gorge along Big Branch Creek amidst some of the largest old growth stands of hemlock and white pines that can be seen in the plateau region.

The waterfall is named for the family who settled here and operated a mill above the falls in the 1800’s. The dry ridges above the falls support a mixed oak-hickory forest dominated by white oak with Virginia pine scattered throughout. On the more xeric southwest bluff, oaks, hemlock, Virginia and short leaf pine are common with a shrub lay of mountain laurel underneath. The spray field from the falls creates a unique habitat on the rock ledges underneath and in the vicinity of the falls. Several species of ferns, sedges, rushes, and plants like grass-of-parnassus and alumroot are associated with this waterfall-gorge habitat.

Things to do at Colditz Cove State Natural Area

Hiking
The trail to Northrup Falls is a loop trail that starts in the small parking area. It isn't a strenuous hike, but demands some agility and sure footedness in the gorge because the rocks around the waterfall can be a bit slippery.

Colditz Cove Hiking Article 

Colditz Cove Map

For More Information

Northrup Falls Road
Jamestown, Tennessee 38504

Phone: (931) 879-5821
Website: http://www.tennessee.gov/environment/na/natareas/colditz/

Nearby Attractions

Relevant Itineraries