Tammy's report:
Soak Creek trail has a great diversity of sights to see. We started at the Piney River parking lot and climbed over the metal gate at the entrance of a rocky ATV road. No signage, just the gate indicating the start of the trail. We walked along the bluffs towering on one side of the path and the cascading creek on the other side. After walking about 1.5 miles, there was a gap in the bluffs and white blazes directing us to ascend the bluff. And that is the signature of the Soak Creek Trail- going up then down the mountain side countless times. But the wildflowers entertained us along the way. The trail also wandered over flat areas next to the tumbling creek where we saw yellow butterflies flying along up the creek. Seeing the sign for Stinging Fork Falls was indeed a relief. We scampered over the rocks to experience the falls. In awe, we sat in the amphitheater, watched the water crash over the rocky cliff and fall into the creek below to the thunder of its own making. A late lunch, a photo-op and finished the trail by hiking up the wooden steps for one final ascent out of the ravine to the Stinging Fork Falls parking lot. We had the whole trail to ourselves until we got to the top of the ravine, where we met hikers coming from the parking area to see the falls. The parking lot was full.
7 miles and 1700 ft elevation change.
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