On Saturday morning Bill and I slept in a little bit compared to when we usually get up to run. We skipped our run and drove to Giles County, which is not too far from Virginia Tech, and set out for a hike. Neither of us had been to Cascades Falls since our college days. We thought a nice little four-mile round trip hike would be a great way to loosen up our legs the day before the Hokie Half Marathon.
Cascade Falls (or the Cascades as we always called it) is a beautiful waterfall where Little Stony Creek falls 69 feet over a cliff face and boulders into a pool below. It’s a favorite place for outdoorsy Virginia Tech students to hike. During our hike we promised our legs that we would take them back and let them run the trail someday.
We started our hike and I immediately found a new best friend. McIntosh was enjoying a shorter hike and stopped to say hi …
Bill had his camera and lenses with him in his backpack, and even with his additional load, I was always scrambling to catch up with him. If you get tired of my ramblings, be sure to scroll to the end of this post to see his beautiful picture of the Cascades, before you leave. Trust me, it’s worth it!
The trail surface changed a lot over the course of the hike. It was mostly a dirt trail, but here large stones were set in concrete which I found very unusual for a remote trail.
We hiked along Little Stony Creek as we made our way to the Cascades. The water flow varied from slow moving pools…
To faster moving water tumbling over small rocks…
To larger volumes of water moving rapidly across larger boulders…
As we hiked along, this first red maple leaf of the season caught my eye. As much as I love fall, I’m not sure if I’m ready for it!
It was a beautiful sunny cool fall day, perfect for hiking; even if the sun did play games with our pictures!
We had a final climb up some stone steps…
And then the Cascades came into view in the distance!
Once we got there, we made sure to ask someone to take the obligatory touristy picture of us!
And while Bill set up to take his pictures, I hiked farther up to a platform beside the falls…
And hung out with this beauty…
And this beauty (I’m sure Mrs. Fly thinks he’s quite handsome)…
While I was taking pictures of flies and butterflies, Bill took this beautiful picture…
Photo courtesy of Bill
By the time we were ready to hike back to our car, lots of students were starting to arrive. I don’t mean to judge, but shouldn’t they have been going to a sports bar to watch the VT football game instead? 😉
We learned that tradition has it that you hike up on the lower trail and out on the upper trail. Thanks goodness dumb luck was on our side and that’s exactly what we did. The upper trail terrain was much easier to walk on than the lower trail.
The up and back hike is about four miles and the chart below shows the elevation change during the hike. Please ignore the miles after about four miles because I forgot to turn my iPhone app off, and it stayed on as we drove away! 🙂
Now that you’ve seen the trail through the lens of my camera, enjoy the calming sounds of nature and running water in this video of Cascade Falls…
- Questions:
- • What’s your favorite way to spend Saturday morning? Sleeping in, running, hiking, going to the gym, shopping?
- • Where’s your favorite place to hike?
- • Hokie friends, who has hiked to the Cascades before?
We love this classic VT hike! We used to hike up the lower trail and then run down the upper trail. Love the awesome pics. The shot of you and Bill is awesome. Definitely frame worthy. And Bill’s waterfall pic is just gorgeous!
I want to hike up sometime when the falls are frozen. Have you hiked up there during the winter?
Oh that’s GORGEOUS!! I would love to hike there!
We’ve hiked mostly local places in RI, but also one trail in MA near our best friend’s house.
You would love it! 🙂
That is definitely one of my favorite hikes! I think I did it at least 3 or 4 times each year. On Kelly’s 21st birthday we had quite the adventure getting there – I’m sure Julie’s told you 🙂
If she has, I’ve forgotten… I’ll have to ask her!
Beautiful photos! I love the falls and the butterfly! Sounds like a relaxing saturdaymorning!
I love to get in a good workout on a Saturday. Even better if it’s on the trails!
I definitely want to run a few of the trails we used to hike!
It looks like you had a beautiful day for a hike!
I definitely enjoy Saturday morning long runs, or hikes, or swims… Or Saturday morning cleaning (so it’s done for the weekend). Or a slow, lazy, decadent-brunch Saturday morning. Basically, I think I just like Saturday mornings! 🙂
Yes, Saturday morning are the best!
And welcome back! 😉
I love hiking to the Cascades! It’s such a beautiful hike and it’s so pretty up there. Have y’all ever gone swimming there? It’s freezing, but a great way to cool off if you hike on a hot summer day. We also always hike up on the lower trail and back on the upper trail.
That picture of Bill’s is amazing and belongs in a magazine. And you are so good at capturing close-up pictures of insects! If the whole personal training thing doesn’t work out, you could consider working for NatGeo or something 😉
Oh and before my wedding, our photographer tried to convince me to hike up to the Cascades to do my bridal pictures. First he said to hike up IN my wedding dress and I said heck no to that. Then he said to hike up and bring the dress and change into it. And he was also under the delusion that I would go stand out on those slippery rocks in the dress for my pictures. It would have been beautiful, but I was not willing to risk it with my dress. So we settled for the Hahn Horticulture Garden.
Your photographer could have taken the picture of you in front of a green screen and then photoshopped you onto the slippery rocks! 🙂
I am cold just thinking of swimming in the pool at the Cascades! I’ll pass on your kind words to Bill. 🙂
Such a beautiful hike!! I really love waterfalls. I’m still working on finding my favorite hikes out here on the East Coast, but one of my favorites is Grays and Torreys peaks in Colorado..it’s so beautiful and when you get to the top, you feel on top of the world!
We keep saying that we’re going to do more Appalachian Trail hikes. I’m sure Grays and Torreys Peaks are gorgeous!
[…] and I spend a lot of weekends in Blacksburg during football season. We spent one Saturday morning Hiking To Cascades Falls, something we had never done […]
[…] just happened to be in town on business, we headed out Thursday morning for a hike (run for me) to Cascades Falls in nearby Giles County. The Cascades, as they’re better known as, is a big destination hike […]