Rockhouse Falls is a 110-foot plunge waterfall on Rockhouse Creek in Fall Creek Falls State Park, Van Buren County, Tennessee. It pours off the rim of Cane Creek Gorge where Rockhouse Creek meets Cane Creek, landing in the same plunge pool as Cane Creek Falls, and the park's nature center sits on the cliff between the two.
The falls
Rockhouse Creek leaves the cliff in a single free drop. Lidar data supports a height of 110 feet, matching measurements by photographer Albert "Dutch" Roth, though older surveys cited 125 feet. The falls can be seen from the Gorge Trail and from the base of Cane Creek Gorge.
Getting there
Park at the Betty Dunn Nature Center. There are three ways to see the falls:
- Overlook path: a wheelchair-accessible path from the nature center looks down on the gorge, with Rockhouse Falls on the right and Cane Creek Falls on the left.
- Gorge Trail: from the Woodland Trail, cross the swinging bridge, keep right at the first fork and take a short spur to an overlook of both falls, measuring about a mile round trip from the nature center and rated easy.
- Cable Trail: about 0.3 mile round trip to the base. It starts behind the nature center, crosses Rockhouse Creek and descends the rock face using roughly 200 feet of cable; it is rated strenuous.
Tennessee State Parks closes day-use areas at sunset, and the road to the falls is locked at dark.
When to go
Rockhouse Creek can shrink to a trickle in summer, and the falls are at their fullest after heavy rain. On busy days such as spring break, a long wait can develop to cross the swinging bridge, so arrive early.
On site
The cable descent calls for some climbing ability. An unapproved path runs along the cliff edge that poses steep drop-off hazards; stay on the marked trails.
Nearby
Cane Creek Falls falls into the same pool, and Cane Creek Cascades is about 0.1 mile away. Coon Creek Falls and Fall Creek Falls, which share their own plunge pool, are each about 0.4 mile away.
Distances are straight-line.