After two years of planning and construction, Fairfield Glade has a new trail.
The concept for the trail was approved by the Glade Trails Committee in 2022 with initial scouting in January 2023. Once the easy, half-mile St. George Trail was complete in the fall of 2023, the Trail Crew focused on creating a more challenging wilderness experience.
The trailhead is on Lancashire Road off Westchester. Hikers descend from the parking area along a 900-foot-long stem trail that offers spectacular views of the white-water cascade of Camp Branch with loads of rhododendron and mountain laurel. After crossing the creek on step stones, the stem joins the main loop of about two miles.
The trail offers a variety of experiences including passage through a crack in a monolith rock, stairs to a waterfall pool, and views under a stunning 60-foot-high rock bluff. A steep side trail takes the curious to the top of the bluff for a seasonal view of Daddys Creek.
Some of the route is relatively easy but eight switchbacks are required to rise 140 feet from Daddys Creek. Hiking counter clockwise makes the climb easier. A variety of wild flowers can be found at many places along the trail.
From September 2023 to June this year, resident volunteers invested more than 7,000 hours of their free time to build the trail. Work sessions are two hours, three days a week. Several weeks of machine work roughed in much of the trail. All the work to make the trail suitable for hikers had to be done by hand.
Eighteen crew members are certified master trail builders and help train new volunteers. Glade trails are designed and built to sustainable construction standards for hikers with a variety of hiking abilities. Senior hikers and visitors with children can feel comfortable on all Glade trails.
Early hikers describe the trail as feeling more remote than other Glade trails. Two other creeks run alongside the trail besides Camp Branch. Pond Branch arrives from under Westchester Drive and joins Daddys Creek by a small island.
While the main loop is open, the Cascade Trail is still being developed. A second water crossing will add almost 2,000 feet of trail rising 80 feet to the base of a 200 foot long cliff with rock houses and little caves. The Trail Crew will return to that section after completing some maintenance work on other trails.
The Trail Crew reminds hikers to take plenty of water, use bug repellant, carry a whistle, wear sturdy shoes and let someone know where you are hiking. As with all county trails, 911 emergency markers will be placed about every quarter mile, but certain sections of Cascade Trail may have no cell service.
To get to trailhead parking, take Westchester 3.4 miles south from Peavine Road. Turn left on Lancashire Road for one quarter mile. Parking is on the right.
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Photo Captions next
The Crack
Members of the Tennessee Trails Association get a preview of the Cascade Trail on National Hiking Day. Here they navigate one of the special features of the trail. A narrow crack in a sandstone monolith near “The Buff.”
Step Work
Five Trail Crew volunteers maneuver three hundred pound rocks, creating a stairway to the plunge pool under a seasonal waterfall on the Cascade trail.
Tammy Burns Scouting
Tammy Burns, Trail Committee Vice Chair, negotiates a very steep side slope during a trail design outing in February 2025. This section is now a walkable trail. Daddys Creek can be seen below to the right. Design work is done in winter because it is easier to see terrain features.
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