In this video, we tour 3 beautiful waterfalls in the Bankhead National Forest of Northwest Alabama; Holmes Chapel Falls, Caney Creek Falls and the Kinlock Falls. The selected waterfalls are all easy to access with short to very short, though sometimes steep, trails. Sorry for the incorrect spelling (AND pronunciation) of "Kinlock"! I can't edit the video now that it is posted, so I can't correct that. 😢 Guess I'll have to go back and record a new video there!!

For this lovely, sunny, Sunday afternoon, Jonathan and a couple of friends joined me to visit three amazing waterfalls with short (less than 30 minute) drives between them. For the month of March, I was nocked out of commission by COVID-19 and this marks the first time I've been able to get back outdoors. So, I wanted to do something easy. Hitting 3 short trails to waterfalls with little drives between them seemed like just the ticket.

The first waterfall we visited was Holmes Chapel Falls. This is a nice tall, but not very wide, waterfall going over a nice sized rock overhang. The "hike" to the top of the waterfall from the road is only about 150 yards (160 m), with a gentle grade. It is a much steeper descent to get down to the bottom of the falls, but very doable. This waterfall is only a couple of miles away from Soagahoagdee Falls, so these would make a great pair to do one after the other. You can see my video on Soagahoagdee Falls here:    • Hiking to Soagahoagdee Falls, Bankhea...  

Next up was Caney Creek Falls, about an 18.5 mile (30 km) drive away. The trailhead location for the Caney Creek Falls trail has moved (it is no longer where AllTrails says it is). The landowner for the original trailhead no longer wants people to cross their property. Luckily, a neighbor has volunteered to open up their property for hikers to cross into the National Forest. Google Maps can take you to the new trail head: https://www.google.com/maps/place/34°.... The very friendly property owner is often there and will chat with you if you are willing. Round trip, the new trail is about 1.5 miles with several steep, but short, ups and downs.

Caney Creek Falls is easily one of my favorite waterfalls in Alabama. It is a wide column of water dropping over a big overhang. In the heat of summer, the pool at the bottom makes an amazing swimming hole. There is also a nice, but small camp site above the falls.

After Caney Creek Falls, we made one last 8.5 mile (13.5 km) road trip over to Kinlock Falls. Whenever I’m in this area, I always need to stop in at Kinlock Falls. This cascade of water there never disappoints and today was no different. Kinlock Falls is just off the road, but it is a pretty steep scramble down through the trees to get to it. But it is worth every bit of effort. Kinlock Falls is a wide "shute" where water cascades down a steep descent that is never quite vertical. In the summer, you can often find crowds of people here riding inner tubes down the cascade or even sliding down on their bottoms. People have installed ropes so you can pull yourself back up to the top. At the very minimum, the large pool at the bottom makes an amazing summer swim hole (though, sometimes crowded).

All the drone video shown here was shot in the Bankhead National Forest outside of the Sipsey Wilderness.

Holmes Chapel Falls: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/al...
Caney Creek Falls (wrong trailhead!): https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/al...
Kinlock Falls: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/al...
Bankhead National Forest: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/alabam...

Title card music by Lobo-Loco: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lob...

#hike
#waterfall

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:33 Overview Map
01:00 Holmes Chapel Falls
07:16 Caney Creek Falls
15:56 Kinlock Falls