Headed to Burgess Falls late on Saturday and came back on Sunday night. It was worth the drive!

I saw some pictures of this waterfall last summer, 2021, and instantly wanted to go. You can view the top of the falls from an observation deck.

Burgess Falls is located on the Falling Water River. There is a Burgess Falls State Park that I mistook as a put in location. The state park is available for day use and has about a 2.7 mile trail for hiking. This trail is considered difficult to strenuous and is 5.4 miles for the entire loop.

The 5.4 mile loop trail has a total of 18 creek crossings. During high waters, it can be a challenge or impassable in some areas since there are no bridges and only cables and rock crossings.

However, the real view is from the lake.

For a water put-in, the closest location to the falls is Cane Hollow Rec Area. This is where we put in.

From the Rec Area to Burgess falls, it is about 2 miles one way. The entire trip took about 4 hours. We didn’t boogie it the entire way and the currents were pretty strong as we got closer the the Cane Hollow.

You can see Burgess Falls by jetski, kayak or any other shallow boat.

Just on the lake

If you go by kayak, it was a bit rough getting back closer to Cane Hollow Recreation Area. It’s about 4 miles round trip.

By boat, the closest marina on Center Hill Lake is Cookeville Boat Dock. And apparently there is another waterfall called Fancher Falls nearby.

Very cool to see Burgess Falls coming around the bend.
Remains of the power mill. It’s located right before the falls.

If you want a guided kayak tour, you can go with Chattanooga Guided Tours or with Kayaking Adventures of Tennessee. The later is a local business that is closer ran by Eddie and Tara.

There is another waterfall that you can see from the lake as well. It’s called Francher Falls, but it’s not as a large or spectacular waterfalls like Burgess Falls. We did not make it to this waterfall, nor did we plan on it. It was not on the way, and the distance is much further.