Big South Fork National River And Recreation Area

If the millions of people who speed south on I-75 or east on I-40 heading for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park knew what they could see and do in the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, the people in the outlet stores of Pigeon Forge and parking lots of Gatlinburg might have a little more room. The Smokies can't be beat for sheer size and grandeur, but when it comes to hikes with fascinating natural features, the Big South Fork wins hands down. And it's just 65 miles from Knoxville and less than 30 miles from I-75. As one Big South Fork ranger admitted, "This is where people who work in the Smokies come for their vacations."

The name comes from the south fork of the Cumberland River, and the park looks like a gerrymandered political district as it snakes upstream from Tennessee into Kentucky. Like the Smokies, the land that makes up this park was once exploited for timber. Coal was mined in some areas. Underlying it all is a geology that, combined with running water, created some of the most interesting landscapes in the entire state, but this is not apparent on first entering the area. In this part of Tennessee, visitors initially look down to see the scenery, not up.

The Cumberland Plateau on which this area lies is covered with a hard layer of sandstone. Underneath this surface layer, however, sits much softer sandstone. When a stream breaks through the hard capstone, it readily cuts through the underlying material. Thus Big South Fork has 500-foot-deep gorges, dramatic cliffs, arches, and "rock houses" where present-day visitors can see the same stones that sheltered Native American hunters and settlers. White-water aficionados will find water varying from family float trips all the way to Class V expert-only runs. Unlike the Smokies, Big South Fork permits mountain biking on several designated trails.

All this is relatively new. The Army Corps of Engineers long had its eye on damming the river, at one time proposing what would have been the highest dam in the East, but, luckily, it could never get funding from Congress. Local conservationists began making noises about preserving the land and rivers in the 1960s, but it took the political push of then-Senator Howard Baker to bring the efforts to fruition. The area has an unwieldy name, but nothing a handy acronym--BSFNRRA--can't solve. The park, which extends into Kentucky as well as Tennessee, totals more than 113,000 acres, not counting the adjacent Pickett State Rustic Park and Forest, which adds 11,700 acres, or the Daniel Boone National Forest, with 500,000 acres.