This Sunday was my first time visiting and I didn’t know what to expect, but this place was absolutely gorgeous. To get to the river is just a hop, skip, and 150-60 or so stairs to the bottom. I packed hiking shoes because I wasn’t sure if it would be a trek to get to the river and falls, but the swimming area is almost directly beneath the gorge bridge so not much is needed to get there. As the owners will explain, when the rocks are wet they are incredibly slippery, so be careful. Another thing to note is that we visited on a sunny weekend, and it was pretty busy.
For parking, I would recommend parking at the Franklin Ghost Town parking lot, which you will make a right turn into BEFORE crossing the gorge bridge. It seems like overflow parking goes there, and on the day that we visited someone was out in the parking lot taking the $5 per person entree fee in exchange for tickets to park and pass through the entry gate. They accept cash, card, or cash app for the fee.