Description:
The
Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area
spans more than 100,000 acres on the Cumberland Plateau.
It is a multiuse area offering hiking, canoeing, hunting,
rock climbing, horseback riding, and bicycling.
Check with the rangers about
deer hunts
in late November and December (Unit B).
Wear your orange, try not to look like a deer.
The trail systems skirt the sandstone cliffs of the Big South Fork River
and descend (steeply) to its tributaries.
The Bandy Creek Campground offers a pool, tent, RV, and group camping,
with hot showers and stables.
Cabins are available in nearby
Pickett State Park.
Bicycles may use the jeep roads or horse trails.
The horse trails are heavily used and can be muddy and sandy.
The lower elevation trails often have numerous water crossings,
and some may be impassable at high water.
Joe Cross and other volunteers have developed some bicycle-only trails. See Duncan Hollow loop (5.3 miles) or Collier Ridge loop (8 miles) bike trail maps. In 2006, the seven mile Grand Gap Loop hiking trail was made available to mountain bikers but only during the week -- hikers only on weekends. (See status report 2007 and future trail plans.) Access via Alfred Smith Road, see map. Check at the Bandy Creek visitor center for maps and current trail restrictions.
Other bikable trails (see area map ) include O&W railroad bed from Verdun (up to 32 miles), the O&W overlook (2.2 miles round trip), the North White Oak overlook (Gar Blevins jeep road, 7 miles), and Gernt Road (6 miles). More ambitious rides include the North White Oak Loop (20 miles), Duncan Hollow Rd to Station Camp Creek (9 miles) (a picture (67K) of Station Camp Creek crossing) and returning by the Charit Creek Lodge trail (7.1 miles), or Station Camp East loop (13 miles), or the Hatfield Ridge loop (10 miles).
The O&W railroad bed out of Verdun (1410') is a gentle ride of 8 miles to the bridge (940') over the Big South Fork. The road follows Pine Creek and turns to gravel at 0.5 miles. A good parking place is at Toomey Road (mile 3.8, 1250') just before one of the crossings of Pine Creek. (Toomey road climbs to 1540' and joins TN 297 in 2.4 miles.) The O&W road becomes rougher (more potholes) and more scenic, and at mile 6.5 Piney Creek joins the Big South Fork as the road runs north through a wall of rock. The rider looks down on the Big South Fork and up to the sandstone cliffs above. From the O&W bridge (mile 8.1, 940'), a horse trail goes north 2.3 miles to Leatherwood Ford (900') on TN 297. The O&W road continues across the bridge and up North White Oak Creek to a wet crossing at mile 9.6 (900', avoid in high water). The railroad bed gently climbs along the creek and has some bus-sized mud holes and serveral wet creek crossings. The Coyle Branch trail (mile 11.1) climbs back up to jeep roads that lead back to Bandy Creek, or you can go further up the railbed to the Gernt Road ascent (mile 13.6), or futher still to Zenith (mile 15.5, 1060') where you have to ford the creek again. The railbed continues to follow the creek for another 8 or so miles, but the section is not maintained. Here is map of unofficial trails on Honey Creek side of the BSF.
Divide Road (gravel) forms the northwest boundary of the Big South Fork and travels 36 miles into Kentucky to the Blue Heron area. There are numerous jeep roads and horse trails off of Divide Road, including rides to Hatfield Ridge, Chestnut Ridge (2.5 mi. to John Muir Overlook), Terry Cemetery, No Business Creek, Stoopin Oak Road, Laurel Ridge, and other rides (e.g., Sheltowee Trace) in the Daniel Boone National Forest.
There is a 10 mile loop around Pickett that combines pavement (TN 154) and gravel (Black House Mtn Rd).
There are lots interesting landforms in the BSF (arches, waterfalls) and in TN. More trail info at horsetrailmaps.com and East Fork Stables. Also see National Geographic TrailSmart topo CD , trail maps on topo, GPS-ready.
