31 Tea Kettle Falls

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   Today we’re going back to the McIlroy Madison County WMA.  And it's a beautiful fall day with temperatures in the 60’s.  This time we are at the north end of the Wildlife Management Area and will be hiking to Tea Kettle Falls.  You could say Tea Kettle Falls is the crown jewel of the McIlroy Madison County WMA.

In the McIlroy Madison County WMA, Tea Kettle Falls is a unique waterfall where the stream flow is ejected through a hole in solid rock.
at Tea Kettle Falls grotto

    It isn't the tallest waterfall in the area, but it is definitely the most unique.  The creek enters the waterfall through a hole in the rock slab at the top, similar to the Glory Hole.  But it doesn’t drop straight through like Glory Hole.  Instead, the water has bored out the front of the slab and exits there.  Just picture the spout of a little porcelain tea pot.  It is unique, that’s for sure.

off-trail above creek

    First though we need to find it.  Coming in off Highway 23 it’s pretty easy to drive right past Road 447-8.  This I know from experience since I’ve done it a couple times.  But this trip we’re coming in From Berryville via Highway 221.  Highway 221 is a nice scenic drive, and for us a huge short-cut.

falls #3

    The pavement ends right as you enter the McIlroy Madison WMA.  From there Road 447-8 is about a quarter mile.  We turn right on Road 447-8 at the big green WMA sign and stay on it all the way to Warm Creek.  After crossing the creek, the parking area is at a large clearing just up the hill on the left at a sharp turn to the right.  If you come in from Hwy. 23 turn right into the parking area before you get to the creek.*

Warm Creek

   The hike to Tea Kettle Falls follows a good trail most of the way.  Throughout this upper portion are some nice views down to Warm Creek.  Different maps have different names for this creek, I’ve seen it called ‘Warm Branch’ and also ‘Warm Fork’.  I’m going to call it ‘Warm Creek’ (since it is a creek), it might be warm in the summer but today it's ice cold.  After a couple small side creek crossings and a few little waterfalls and cascades the trail fades away down near the bank of Warm Creek.

falls #5 across Warm Creek

    There are low bluffs along the north side of the creek here.  We keep going east along the south bank until past these bluffs.  Then find a good spot to cross Warm Creek, it’s not deep.  Today we brought nothing for a wet crossing, so we just take off our shoes and socks, roll up our pants and wade across.  Warm Creek here is probably 20 feet wide and the creek bed is small round river rock.  It is pretty painful on my tender feet, but I’ll live.

wet weather falls along the trail

   Once across we can hear Tea Kettle Falls and in about 100 yards arrive at the base of the falls.  Tea Kettle Falls pours out in front of the nice shelter type cave at the head of a beautiful little grotto.  The falls don’t have much flow today, I understand these creeks dry up fast.

Tea Kettle 'spout'

    If you want to see waterfalls here, you had better come right after a good rain.  It rained just two days ago, so I guess we’re lucky everything hasn’t dried up completely.  Even with diminished flow the falls are still lovely, and the grotto simply gorgeous.  After a snack and some ooh and ahh time we head back the way we came.

Autumn Splendor

   Today we had a great time hiking to Tea Kettle Falls, this hike is mostly on the level only about 160 feet elevation gain there and back, and right at 3.0 miles.  There are a couple more waterfalls and some caves in the WMA that we plan to see someday, we’ll wait for some rain though.  Today was a nice day in a wonderful location, what more could we ask for?

Warm Creek crossing

McIlroy Madison County Wildlife Management Area: Statistics Chart 31     It's a big area (14,435 acres) and can be easily entered from the west side off Highway 23 at 3 or 4 different dirt roads, also coming in from the south off Highway 127.  The north entry from Berryville on Highway 221 which ends at the McIlroy Madison WMA is how we got here today, until 447-8 re-opens this is the best way to Tea Kettle Falls area.  * As of September 2022, Road 447-8 is still closed between Highway 23 and the Tea Kettle parking area. 

base map before fair use alterations is property of USGS--licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 U.S. License


Location: Tea Kettle Falls parking: 36.27032, -93.73067

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