Fancher Falls

For the fourth day of my Tennessee trip, my mom and I went to Fancher Falls, which is located on Taylor Creek a few hundred feet upstream of its confluence with Center Hill Lake near Cookeville, TN. Accessing this waterfall requires a boat, as there is no public access by land. Fancher Falls was a last-minute addition to my itinerary, as I had never come across it when researching the trip back in 2017. I came across a picture of it at my parents’ house this past Saturday night (the night before we left for Tennessee) and wondered how it had flown below my radar. My mom likes to kayak and was interested in going, plus I needed an extra swimming hole on my itinerary since I thought Cummins Falls was going to be closed, so we reserved kayaks for Tuesday (yesterday). However, the weather forecast for yesterday looked pretty rough, so we moved the reservation to today.

Before we headed out on the lake, I drove to Cookeville to meet my friend Zach for breakfast. Zach has been my Rescue 911 tape-trading buddy since 2003, but we have never met in person. He moved to Nashville a couple of years ago and suggested we meet up sometime, and I told him I would be in his neck of the woods at some point doing a swimming hole vacation. He was off work today, so we decided to meet up after 16 years of online correspondence. We hung out at iHop for about an hour (and you know I macked on some cupcake pancakes), and then I headed off to meet my mom at the Cookeville Boat Dock.

( Click here for the full trip report with pictures and videos )

In summary, Fancher Falls was a cool excursion, as it was different to go to a waterfall and swimming hole by kayak instead of by trail. I would say Fancher Falls was like Cane Creek Falls lite. It was about the same height and had a second waterfall spilling over the same cliff, but the area was a little more closed in, and the swimming hole was smaller. Although the temperature of the water itself is fairly moderate (for a swimming hole), the wind and waterfall spray made the experience a little chilly (but that wasn’t really a problem as soon as we left the falls area). I would say the waterfall is the second coolest Tennessee waterfall I have seen so far after the Cane Creek/Rockhouse Falls combo at Fall Creek Falls State Park. Although the swimming hole on its own isn’t remarkable, it offers the chance to take a dip beneath a cool waterfall with an unconventional approach.