Rylander Cascade

One of the closest trailheads to Cragrock aka, Sparta TN, is Rylander Cascade Trail. Rylander was the name of the family who gave us Lost Creek falls and cave. In fact, you park in the Lost Creek parking lot and head south on Lost Creek Rd toward Big Bottom to get to the trail. The official trail is a short easy stroll on an old roadbed along Dry Creek. Let me emphasize the word dry in Dry Creek. When you get to the trail, the dry creek bed going under the road would make you think that  the falls would not be flowing that day – – there is a reason that they call this area Lost Creek; it is riddled with streams that emerge from caves, flow a short distance, and then disappear into another cave. You can add Rylander Cascades to this list.

As you hike up the gentle slope, stop and listen on occasion; prior to getting to Rylander Cascade, twice I heard the distinct sound of water plummeting along the hill on my left. Upon investigation, I found two smaller falls/cascades that come out of the hill, run a few feet and disappear into cracks in the valley floor. Rylander is the third and largest of these micro-water-water-falls.

I am not recommending anyone else going past Rylander, the trail ends at the cascade; but I could not resist hiking farther up Dry Creek.  The creek that is dry at the road and still dry when you get to the cascades, is quite wet as you get closer to the top of the mountain. It too, disappears and reappears a few times along the way. It is not a huge volume, but I’ve been back three times and I have NEVER seen it empty and it is ohhhhh, sooooo, clear. Happy Hiking. [mashshare]

A wet spot in Dry Creek