Friends of Clifty Falls State Park

Trail 4

Introduction

Trail 4 is a short but steep linear trail starting at the Hoffman Falls parking area on Canyon Road. It proceeds downhill, passing access to Trail 3 on the left. Then it turns right, passing the Hoffman Falls Overlook, and goes downhill passing the junction of Trail 5. The trail drops further to cross Hoffman Branch near its entrance to Big Clifty Creek. A short steep hike up the other side and you meet with Trail 3.

The Park property map classes Trail 4 as ~ 0.75 mile very rugged trail. The complete route (one-way) described here (with back and forth from Beech Grove) is about 0.5 miles.

blue = trail, yellow dots = approximate locations of some features as described in the text

Along the Way

You descend from the Hoffman Falls parking area and arrive at a junction of a side branch that leads up to Trail 3.

Take this side branch (left) and cross the footbridge over Hoffman Branch. Go up the trail a bit or into the side channel and look for the remains of abandoned abutments and pathways on either side of the channel (A). These probably supported a passage for a bridle trail that crossed here in the CCC-days up to the 1974 tornado when the saddle barn was disbanded.

the footbridge over Hoffman Branch (above the falls) with the Trail 3 footbridge up the hill in the distance

looking down Hoffman Branch from the footbridge

part of the foundation

Turn back now and head left around the small bluff and see the Hoffman Falls Overlook (B). If it has been very rainy, you can see some falls.

The trail continues from here steeply down this side of Hoffman Branch canyon all the way to the crossing of the creek channel. Along the way you will pass the junction of Trail 5. As you walk past this junction, when the vegetation is sparse, look uphill to see a series of abandoned bridge abutments. These were for a Brough’s Folly railway crossing. If you have time, it may be worth a short side trip up Trail 5 to see the largest abutment up close and read the information panel there (C).

at the foot of Hoffman Falls overlook, looking down the trail

a section of the downhill portion of Trail 4 headed to the junction of Trail 5

looking down from trail 5 to the downhill section of Trail 4

in winter, a look up the hillside from Trail 4 can reveal some ruins of the lower levels of the railway abutments

if you took the side trip up Trail 5, the ruins of the railway abutments and information sign

When you reach the lowest part of Trail 4 you are crossing Hoffman Branch (if flow allows). Look for a large rock wall on the right side of the channel (looking upstream). This is one of the railway bridge abutments (D).

At this point in the creek channel, you can reverse or continue on with what remains of Trail 4 up the steep other side of the channel to join Trail 3 for a return trip. But before you do, there is the remains of a CCC-era water fountain (E) just downstream to the right.

view of lowest abutment

abandoned CCC-era water fountain

Using Trail 4

Aside from a back-and-forth as described here, Trail 4 is a part of these interesting hikes described at our Hiking the Trails page:

Hoffman Canyon Hikes - this has the most commonly used hikes using Trails 4 and 3. One just loops the canyon while the others loops but connects further down Trail 1 to the Nature Center.
Brough's Folly Hike
Rim-to-Rim Hike

Hoffman Canyon Ridge Hike

Hoffman Canyon Canyon Hike

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