Holmes Chapel Falls offers a scenic drop into a bowl carved into the sandstone that is so familiar to regulars in Bankhead National Forest. The hike is relatively flat and enjoyable along the creek to the main fall, with moss and boulders around every turn.

• 1 mi round trip
• Nice View
• Kids OK
• Dogs OK

As a large family, we find renting a home for a night much more relaxing than a hotel, and it's so nice to have a place nearby to crash after a long day of hiking! You can find nice, affordable homes on Vrbo.

Holmes Chapel Falls is situated just south of Brushy Lake campground off of Mount Olive Rd. in Bankhead National Forest.  The small creek that feeds it slows to a trickle in late summer, but the waterfall is pretty impressive in the cool months.

In my opinion, the best route is to part just north of the bridge over rush creek and to hike along the creek for about 1/2 a mile.  You can continue further north and park in a pulloff for an old timber road, but you'll drop down at the top of the fall with no good way to climb down to explore the bowl and see the waterfalls from the base of the falls.

As with many of the sandstone canyons in Bankhead, this one is quite a spectacle with moss covered boulders everywhere you look and milky green water running in the creek.

This is an easy hike for all ages, but there isn't a well-worn path so don't expect much company. 🙂

This area is known as the "Land of 1000 Waterfalls" and if you hike here in the spring, you'll understand why as water cascades over the sandstone bluffs and into the canyon at nearly every turn.

If you continue north on Mt. Olive Road and take the next left, you can see Coal Mine Branch Falls before it drops into Brushy Creek.

Just south on Hickory Grove Road, you can start you hike to Sougahoagdee Falls.  Check out our Sougahoagdee Falls trip guide for all of the details and pictures

Nearby, you can visit Eagle Creek Falls, Deer Skull Falls, and Little Ugly Falls just west of the Sipsey River on Cranal road just a few minutes northwest of here.  Continue west a few miles and turn north on Kinlock Road for a chance to see Parker Falls and the popular swimming location of Kinlock Falls.

Or, about 8 miles west of Holmes Chapel Falls, you can start a hike to the ever-popular Caney Creek Falls.  It's a longer walk, but still a very cool spot to visit with two waterfalls converging in a single bowl in the shoulder seasons.

Weather - Upcoming Forecast

Other Resources