The Tennessee two-step is a famous dance in the south. It’s a jaunty jig, part line dance, and part swirl. Don’t mistake it for the Texas two-step. In Tennessee, they do it differently.
Tennessee is a very friendly town. After a local taught me the ‘Tennessee Two-step’ in a clothing store, I was told of a waterfall an hour or so away. “Best waterfall in Ten-nuh-see”, she told us. In the two-step, you hold your partner close, but you’re encouraged to twirl and bounce. If Tennessee were a dance partner, it would be the leader – friendly and familiar, but also fun and silly and exciting. Since we had nothing but time, we decided we should ‘head-ahwn down’ to Cummins Falls.
Cummins Falls State Park is the perfect summer hike. Especially since you get to have a swim in the waterfalls at the end of your walk. It’s on the Blackburn Fork State Scenic River, and it’s only a twenty-minute drive from Cookeville, or a ninety-minute drive from Nashville. When my partner and I went, we decided to stay in a Twin Peaks-esque log cabin in the small town of Cookeville.
Cummins Falls is the 8th largest waterfall in Tennessee. It was named after John Cummins, the guy who acquired the land in 1825. There’s nothing written about the original indigenous owners of the land, though it’s unsurprising - I haven’t seen much written about indigenous people in Tennessee.
The walking track to the waterfalls itself is approximately three kilometres. It’s not a long trek, but it can be trick. You need to cross rivers (sometimes with a really strong current), climb boulders and scale rocks. Make sure you don’t wear thongs, and don’t take anything too valuable, as it might get wet!
The start of the walking track is lush and dense forest. It curves down until you get to the first body of water to cross. Some of the rocks are sharp, and they’re all slippery, so walk with caution. Go at a turtle’s pace, and you’ll be cool.
On a hot summer’s day, you’ll get to the waterfall and be dying to get in for a swim. It’s pretty perfect. You can leave your stuff on a boulder and swim out and stand directly under the waterfall. You can climb up onto different sections of the waterfall (though be careful, it’s super duper slippery; a girl fell two levels while we were there) and get swept up in the sounds of water pounding on the rocks.
Making your way back from the waterfalls to go home is always a bit of a strange experience. It seems easier somehow to make your way over the rocks and through the river, back to the walking path. As soon as you’re on the path, climbing back up, it’s hard to remember the falls – they disappear in your mind as the sound of water pounding rock recedes into the distance. Instead, you begin to fall in love with the huge fir trees and shrubs that line the steep walk back to the car park. Leaving the forest, it’s easy to think it was all a dream, led by the Tennessee two-stepper itself.
By Claire Feain
2017
