Monday and Tuesday Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area

Ready for another adventure down the road

Monday April 30, 2018 Camping at Big South Fork at Brandy Creek Campground

We spent three super days at Cades Cove Campground, now it's time to move on. We drove 130 miles and it took us over three hours to get to Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. It is a beautiful park with hiking trails and the Big South Fork River to kayak on. The trails are for hikers, bikers and horses. The horses and bikers alternate days for use. Big South Fork is located in both Tennessee and Kentucky. The campground we're at is Brandy Creek which is in Tennessee.

When we arrived at Brandy Creek we stopped at the gate to get a campsite. The gentleman told us to drive around and find a site and then come back. We found a spot and paid for a couple of nights. Then we went to the visitor center to get a hiking trail map. We spent the rest of the day relaxing inside under the air conditioner considering it was in the 80's. We had a nice day.

Having a grand time hiking

Tuesday May 1, 2018 Hiking Oscar Blevins Farm Trail

We woke up to a morning temperature in the 50's. We had breakfast and then we hiked the Oscar Blevins Farm Loop Trail, its was an easy trail to hike. The trail took us through trees, over Brandy Creek and by beautiful rock cliffs. The Oscar Blevins Farm was very big and well maintained. The original farmhouse was replaced by a modern one in the 1950's. We saw the 1950's cabin, 1950 smokehouse, the original cabin that was expanded in 1870, large frame barn built in 1963 and 1870 Log corn crib. The barn is still being used to store hay by the park service. There were two horses and a cat living on the farm owned by the park but we didn't see them. As we hiked back we got off the hiking trail and got on to the bike trail for a little bit. Then we got back on the hiking trail, that took us through gorgeous rock cliffs. As we hiked by the cliffs the trail went behind a waterfall. Then we climbed a wooden staircase to more rock cliffs. When we were crossing over the horse trail we saw three ladies horseback riding. We had a gorgeous hike.

Oscar Blevins 1963 cabin

Big wooden barn still being used to store hay

Standing in a rock cave

The waterfall we hiked behind

Wooden staircase on trail

Hiking over Brandy Creek by a bridge

By the time we got back to our campsite it was starting to get warm, good thing we hike in the morning. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying the campground. We had a super day.