benton falls hike

The Forest Service Road surprised us with the many beautiful overlooks. The Chilhowee Recreation Center has picnic tables and restrooms. There are multiple trails and loops. The trail to Benton Falls is well marked. It was worth walking down to the bottom of the falls. The trail had steps where needed. It was fun jumping across the boulders to stand in the middle of the stream. This is a beautiful place! There is a $3 fee for parking. You put the money in an envelope and drop it in the bin. You will need a pin to record the date, tag # of your vehicle and # in your party. It took us less than 2 hours to do the hike. We did not take a picnic.

Benton Falls Trail does require paying $3 parking pass for anywhere in Cherokee National Forest. To get here from Ranger Station you take paved Forest Service Road 77 for 7 miles to Chilhowee Recreation Area. The Forest Service Road has several amazing overlooks right off the road. The Chilhowee Recreation Area has bathrooms with no soap, but otherwise clean. There is plenty of picnic areas, along with swimming beach.The Benton Falls Trail is about 1.5 miles one way to the 65 foot Benton Falls. The trail is a wide and well used trail. Trail is rather easy till you get to top of falls, then staircase steepness to bottom of falls. We did see people climbing falls, which isn't allowed. One climber almost bit the dust, he fell about 8 feet onto his butt landing on a ledge and almost rolled off the ledge to fall another 30 feet. His face was priceless, but I am glad he didn't fall further off the ledge he landed on. Plenty of large rocks to sit on at base of falls to look at falls.A family could have a nice afternoon here.