Stream Near Foster Falls

A stream in the woods near Foster Falls, in the South Cumberland region of Tennessee — the high, forested plateau country southwest of Chattanooga where sandstone bluffs and deep gorges break up the tableland. Foster Falls itself drops about sixty feet into a pool at the head of a gorge; the streams that feed it run clear over sandstone and through stands of hemlock and rhododendron.

Photographed near Foster Falls in 2014. The South Cumberland is some of the best walking country in Tennessee — waterfalls, bluffs, and clear streams within a short drive — and the smaller creeks above the falls are quieter than the falls themselves.