Saturday March 1 2025 -Tennessee road trip day 3 - Helenwood TN to Nathan Bedford Forest State Park near Camden TN - 1 hike, 4.7 miles and 550 feet elevation gain

Our day started off fairly early and very far East in TN where we overnighted yesterday.  I had a hike picked out in the Big South Fork recreation area which is a part of TN I often saw signs for and went around the edge of but had never actually explored.  Today’s hike was only 20 miles but over 40 minutes from our hotel because much of the mileage was on rough gravel roads, something I didn’t run into very often when I lived in Tennessee.  Before parking at the trailhead I followed the signs to an overlook which didn’t disappoint, looking far far down to the South Fork of the Cumberland River.  The Cumberland goes through Nashville but I’m not sure how it and this South Fork are connected because they are very far apart.  One little thing I wished I got a picture of was right by our hotel.  Coming off a side road onto US-27, mounted between the 2 traffic light heads was an official green road sign that looked very ordinary except this one said… Bikers enjoy the curves on US-27 south.  I love that there was an official sign telling people to enjoy TN’s curvy back roads!

The trail we hiked was called Beaver Falls in AllTrails.  While being in the area with the dramatic views was exciting, THIS actual trail was pretty basic.  Just a path through the lightly forested woods with part of the miles being on a multi-use trail which was basically a road that ATV’s and hikers both use.  We didn’t see anybody on the trail until we got to the end of our hike and a group of 3 men were breaking camp around 10:30 am.  I’m sure the isolated spot near the creek was a peaceful nice place to sleep.  The quiet was pretty amazing even near the road and trailhead.  At one point we stopped walking on the trail for a moment and I had to just freeze and stand there for an extended pause to see if I could hear anything including the most distant of road or airplane noises and I absolutely couldn’t hear a thing other than the soft internally buzzing noise in my head that is normally drowned out even in the quietest moments in my normal daily routine.

The drive West from the hike was almost all along TN-52 which makes a relatively straight show across northern TN which is, except due north of Nashville, very rural.  It was a favorite drive of mine when I lived in Nashville and it didn’t disappoint today with lots of country views, curvy sections and some cool geologic sights including an astonishingly deep ravine that TN-52 crosses on an equally unbelievably tall bridge.  Driving across that bridge there is no obvious sign that you are over 200 feet above the river, above even the very tallest trees below the bridge. It is the dividing line between Central and Eastern time which the sign for the bridge points out but the guard rails and wide shoulders make it very easy to zip across the span without any clue of what you’ve gone over.

The rest of the drive West was enjoyable but kind of long since all 250 miles were on 2 lane roads that went through a lot of speed zones.  Overall, these first 3 days of the trip have been, as expected, heavy driving days.  

The state park we are staying at has about half a dozen lovely modern cabins which all overlook Kentucky Lake. They also have 1 very isolated rustic cabin which is highly sought after and that is what we’re staying in the next 2 nights.  Finding this log cabin in the park was tough because it isn’t at all near the ‘cabins’ area of the park and, in fact, the turn off for the log cabin says it’s an area that is closed after sunset and even after that there is another unmarked turn to actually get to it.  It’s a beautiful little cabin at the very top of a knob with a steep view down to the lake.  Inside it’s all wood walls and full of country kitschy decorations.  The kitchen has more utensils than our own kitchen at home and the bathroom includes 6 towels and wash clothes etc.  It’s all very welcoming and generous feeling.  When we called in to let them know we wouldn’t make it to the cabin before the office closed at 4:30 the park person said (in a lovely thick southern accent) that we didn’t need to hurry just to be safe and enjoy ourselves when we got here.  She explained how to get the key also but mostly she was just friendly and welcoming.  There is firewood for the fireplace if we choose to use it.

Dinner was Mexican food in Camden TN.  The total cost for our 2 entrees, 2 soft drinks and a super generous tip was 41 dollars.  Especially in the country I’m astonished at how farther a dollar goes here than anywhere we’ve actually lived recently.

Tomorrow we hike with our friend John from Nashville at Montgomery Bell State park.