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The
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the best known park in
Tennessee, but it is only one of middle and east Tennessee's great
outdoor destinations.
Tennessee State Parks
Fall Creek
Falls | Tennessee
has about 50 state
parks,
all within a half-day drive of Nashville. Radnor
Lake State Park located in the midst of the Overton Hills,
south of Metropolitan Nashville, is the most popular state
park in the Nashville area. Montgomery
Bell State Park is another favorite park in middle
Tennessee. Southeast of Nashville on the Cumberland Plateau,
Fall
Creek Falls State Resort Park has one of the highest
waterfalls east of the Rocky Mountains, plunging 256 feet into
a shaded pool at the base of its gorge.
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In the Chattanooga Area
Chattanooga offers a wide-range of indoor and outdoor
destinations for a family vacation. Lookout Mountain
has several attractions (e.g., "See Rock City", Ruby Falls) and there are Civil War battlefields
to explore. The Tennessee
Aquarium is well worth a visit.
Ocoee White
Water
One of the legacies of the 1996 Summer
Olympics, the Ocoee Whitewater
Center was the location of the Canoe, Kayak and Slalom events.
The Ocoee river flows through a deep gorge in the beautiful Cherokee
National Forest in southeast Tennessee. Here you'll encounter
exciting class III and IV white water rapids with spectacular
mountain scenery. Numerous
outfitters offer rafting on the Ocoee and Hiwassee
rivers. |
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- Biking
- Camping
- Fishing
- Hiking
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Northeast of Nashville,
escape the crowds at . . .
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The free-flowing Big South Fork of
the Cumberland River and its tributaries pass through 90 miles
of scenic gorges and valleys containing a wide range of
natural and historic features. The area offers a broad range
of recreational opportunities including camping, whitewater
rafting, kayaking, canoeing, hiking, horseback riding,
mountain biking, hunting and fishing.
Recommended Hiking Trail
on
the Cumberland Plateau:
Virgin Falls Pocket
Wildernesses Tennessee
is rich in hiking
trails, and one of the finest is just 2 hours east of
Nashville on US 70 near Sparta, Tennessee. The Virgin
Falls Pocket Wilderness Trail descends into Caney Fork
River Gorge passing Big Branch Falls, Big Laurel Falls, the
Sheep Cave, and on toward the ultimate destination of Virgin
Falls, which comes out of one of the largest caves in
Tennessee (take a flashlight). This is a moderately difficult
hike. | |
