From Contributed Reports

TENNESSEE – Once you visit the outdoors of Tennessee, you can’t help but think that the land was molded just for hikers.

The state’s landscape goes skyward, then deep back down, upward again, then down in the rolling hills. Even the so-called flatlands offer woodland and river hikes of satisfying beauty. The vegetation changes, as does the animal population, but from end to end, the state presents hiking enthusiasts with a wealth of choices: all good ones.

In the east, what is called the Blue Ridge area takes in the Great Smoky
Mountains and Cherokee National Forest. An hour drive west toward the middle of the state puts you in the Cumberland Mountains, with their flat tops and steep valleys.

Traveling east past Nashville, you’re up on the Cumberland Plateau,
which stretches from Chattanooga in the southeast to the Kentucky line. Near Oneida, the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area has 400 miles of trails, including the John Muir Trail. Looks for natural arches and waterfalls.

Fiery Gizzard is in the South Cumberland State Recreation Area between Nashville and Chattanooga, close to Monteagle. The hike here is an easy three miles, and it includes a lot of shade trees to keep the temperature cool even during the hottest months. Again, look for the waterfalls.

Tennessee seems blessed with an abundance of waterfalls, adding a little
extra magic to many of its hiking trails. However, each hike is different,
each with its own beauty, if you know where to look. Plants, animals, even turkey tail fungus growing on the side of a tree – each detail can be
savored for a memorable trip.

Hiking in Tennessee is not interstate-traveling to get somewhere the fastest way possible. It’s a leisurely journey to enjoy the sights, the sounds, the solitude. Hikes can range from less than an hour to a few days, depending on your skill level. Many of the hiking areas are in parks that allow for overnight camping.

Seasonal changes are a major consideration too. Hiking areas show different sides of themselves when the trees are full leaved and lovely. Come back in the fall and winter, and the leafless trees reveal still other scenic secrets like rock formations and sudden sheer drops into a valley below.

To many hikers, the big mountains in the eastern part of the state are too alluring to ignore, and certainly the Smokies live up to their reputation for scenery and excitement. From Johnson City/Bristol in the northeast down to Knoxville and over to Chattanooga, you can enjoy city comforts at night and wild nature during the day.

The fall changing of the leaves attracts many to the Smokies, but the hiking is good almost year around. Higher elevations, of course, are prone to snow and ice in the winter. Spring storms can flood streams; so always be prepared when you’re in the mountains.

Just a few miles from downtown Knoxville is a popular hike in the Ijams
Nature Center. Actually, there are several easy treks available, but the
River Trail has a nice boardwalk that sits just above the river and runs
along the bottom of a bluff.

Not too far from Gatlinburg is the Porters Creek trail, an easy entrance
into the world of hiking in the Smokies. If you do the whole 7.5-mile trail,
you’ll run from the easy to moderate section of hiking, but at the trail’s
beginning, families can do the easy parts, then backtrack and call it a day.

Up north near the Johnson City area, the Smokies present two great trails for families or beginners. Each is 2 to 3 miles long but can be hiked in about an hour and a half. Beauty Spot Bald (a bald is an area on a mountain ridge with no trees) and Stamping Ground Ridge are noted for their scenery and plant life, ranging from blueberry bushes to mountain laurel and huckleberries.

So much of Tennessee is still unpopulated by humans that it’s been easy for the state and federal governments to set up parks and wildlife refuges – and none are too far way from the comforts of home. So, you can stay a day here, move on for a day there, spend a day or stick around for a week.

The Tennessee outdoors is open all year.