page_title: Scott's Gulf
section_title: Access
hierarchical_section_title: Scott's Gulf / Access
caption_attribution_description: Upper Polly Branch Falls in White County, Tennessee, located in the Southeastern United States. Three small waterfalls are located along the lower half of Polly Branch as the stream spills down the edge of Scott's Gulf into the Caney Fork River below.
context_page_description: Scott's Gulf is a canyon situated along the Caney Fork in White County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The canyon stretches for approximately 18 miles as the Caney Fork drops from the top of the Cumberland Plateau down to the eastern Highland Rim. This remote section of the river is home to a wilderness area consisting of a largely undisturbed deciduous forest, numerous waterfalls, caves and other geological formations, and Class IV and Class V whitewater rapids.
  Roughly 10,000 acres of Scott's Gulf is owned by the State of Tennessee, most of it situated within the Bridgestone/Firestone Centennial Wildernesswhich is managed by TWRA and the Virgin Falls Pocket Wilderness Area, managed by Tennessee state parks.
context_section_description: A number of hiking trails criss-cross Scott's Gulf, with most of the publicly owned trails on the north side.  Some of the trails are poorly maintained, but well blazed. Most of the marked trailheads are located along Scott's Gulf Road, which traverses part of Chestnut Mountain a few miles south of U.S. Route 70 between Sparta and Crossville.  The trails in the Centennial Wilderness (Polly Branch, Yellow Bluff) are open year-round except during hunting season.  Virgin Falls State Natural Area is open year-round.
  The Virgin Falls Trail heads west from Scott's Gulf Road toward Big Laurel Creek, passes Big Laurel Falls, and descends rapidly to the Caney Fork bottom-lands where it forks, with one branch heading east to the Caney Fork Trail and the other branch heading west up the slope of Little Chestnut Mountain to Virgin Falls.
  The Polly Branch Trail system follows Polly Branch and covers much of the stream's watershed.  One branch leads to cliff overlooking the Bee Branch valley.  Another heads northward across Chestnut Mountain.  The trail intercepts the Caney Fork Trail near the mouth of Polly Branch.
  The Caney Fork Trail parallels an old miners' path at the base of the gorge, connecting the Polly Branch and Virgin Falls trail systems.
caption: Upper Polly Branch Falls
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