The Indian Creek area is one of my favorite areas of Buffalo River National Park area.
The trail back to Indian Creek is not an official trail -- but it is pretty well traveled, and runs right along Indian Creek, so it's fairly easy to follow and almost impossible to get lost on. Just follow the creek.
To get to the trail, head out on the Buffalo River Trail out of Kyles Landing and head toward Steele Creek. After a stretch you'll see a sign that points you toward Indian Creek. At that point, you are no longer on a maintained trail.
The highlight of the trail is Tunnel Falls (I'll discuss it a bit more in a bit) -- a 31' high waterfall that pours out from a cave.
The trail follows Indian Creek out away from the Buffalo River. When the water is high (like after a good rain) there are numberous volunteer waterfalls that appear along the creek area. Some of the photos of these volunteer
waterfalls and cascades appear on this page.
The trail crosses the creek 3 times on the way back to the falls. This creek is usually passable - -but in times of high water (the best time to venture back to the falls) your feet may get wet. My one time back to this falls was after a very hard rain so my feet were very wet -- but it was well worth it.
As you get back to the back of the trail, you'll go up a steep stretch of trail that loops around high above the creek. It's a pretty scary stretch and a slip would be extremely bad.
You eventually reach Copperhead Falls. I think this is usually a pretty nice waterfall but the water was so high the day we went it ended up looking more like just a huge cascade.
At about 2.7 miles back you get to Tunnel Cave Falls. As I noted before, it's a 31' high waterfall that comes out from a
cave on the side of the bluff and it flows into a beautiful blue pool of water.
The second to last photo on the page is of Tunnel Cave Falls.
When the water is really flowing -- just beyond Tunnel Cave Falls (you'll be able to see it -- and hear it) is another cascade of water that comes pouring over the side of the ridge and has a series of large cascades down into the same creek as Tunnel Cave Falls. This waterfall (I don't know if it even has a name) is extremely impressive (that is me in the last photograph standing close to it in the last photograph of this post).
Again, when we were there, there was a lot of water -- and the sound of all of the water flowing was an incredible sound -- to go along with this being, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful areas along the Buffalo River.
There is apparently more to see here -- but the "easy" way to see it used to be to climb through the Tunnel Cave to the other side but now that is closed (as are most of the caves in the area) because of disease that is killing the grey bats and it's best if humans leave well enough alone there. There is a "back way" to get there -- which involves climbing up a rope up a bluff, and scurring up more bluffs. But apparently it is extremely dangerous and I felt like it was best left to another day.
Hike Length: 5.4 miles
Difficulty: Moderate to Difficult
Best time of year: Winter and Spring when water is high
Footwear: Hiking Boots
Children: I wouldn't
Star Rating: 5 Stars out of 5
Guidebook: Indian Creek Area in Tim Ernst's Buffalo River Hiking Trails Book
