Offroad/overnight backpacking combo

[88to21bronco]

I live in the Southeast (Middle TN). My kids and I are just getting into overnight backpacking. The perfect excursion once the Bronco comes would be a moderate offroading trail to a trailhead for a 3-5 mile backpack to a primitive campsite. I was wondering if anyone has recommendations in the region? We are a relatively close drive to the Blue Ridge GA, Smokey Mt. and Land Between the Lakes areas. AL, MS, GA, TN, NC and KY are within reach.

Thanks in advance!

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[Trueblue2296]

I live in the Southeast (Middle TN). My kids and I are just getting into overnight backpacking. The perfect excursion once the Bronco comes would be a moderate offroading trail to a trailhead for a 3-5 mile backpack to a primitive campsite. I was wondering if anyone has recommendations in the region? We are a relatively close drive to the Blue Ridge GA, Smokey Mt. and Land Between the Lakes areas. AL, MS, GA, TN, NC and KY are within reach.

Thanks in advance!

What part of middle TN. I am in Clarksville. There are a few spots to go as you stated LBL. Mammoth Cave Chattanooga area has some and gatlinberg/Pigeon forge area. Also check out the Tennessee Bronco Club page on here.

 

[88to21bronco]

What part of middle TN. I am in Clarksville. There are a few spots to go as you stated LBL. Mammoth Cave Chattanooga area has some and gatlinberg/Pigeon forge area. Also check out the Tennessee Bronco Club page on here.

McMinnville area.

I was hoping for specific suggestions. It's hard nosing around online to get all the info you need...water availability on the backpacking trail, difficulty of offroad portion, etc...

Thanks for the response.

 

[jofer]

I don't live in TN anymore, but my list would be (not necessarily in order):

Prentice Cooper State Forest (near Chattanooga) is something I'd highly recommend that's close to you. No backpacking _right_ there, but some great offroad trails and great hiking trails. Camping in the immediate area is at a designated, but non-developed campground in the forest. There's a _ton_ of great backpacking nearby, though (e.g. Cumberland trail segments).

Pickett State Forest has some neat offroad trails (note: they're in the forest next door, not the state park). There's some great hiking trails there, but no overnight backpacking trails within the SF or SP. However, you're _right_ next to Big South Fork which has fantastic backpacking routes. So you could do some of the OHV trails in Pickett SF and pretty much immediately link to a trailhead for a multi-day loop in Big South Fork. Or alternatively, you can offroad and do some great day hikes, camping overnight at the SP if you want.

And with the above said, check out Big South Fork in TN and Daniel Boone national forest in SE KY in general. They're places where you'd actually be semi-offroading to a trailhead for a multi-day backpacking loop. There's some very neat stuff there. The trails you'd take to a backpacking route aren't terribly technical, but they're pretty and fun. The Daniel Boone Backcountry Byway is supposed to be really neat (I've never done it - only little bits before it was called that).

Play around offroading at Windrock and then go backpacking in Frozen Head State Park. (I _love_ Frozen head. But Windrock was still Brushy Mountain prison last time I was there, so I know very little about windrock.)

Similarly, offroad a bit around Coalmont and then do an overnight backpacking loop at Savage Gulf. (I've actually been to coalmont, but before it was officially a state-owned OHV park. Savage Gulf is amazing, though. I've done a lot of backpacking there back in college.)

LBL is great! (I actually grew up just south of there.) There's a lot of neat offroad trails to explore in addition to the official OHV area at Turkey Bay. The north south trail is a pretty neat backpacking route. I'm quite partial to just generally getting out there and setting up a base camp and then exploring, though. (Ginger Bay was always our preferred area to camp. The old backcountry camp area, not the boat launch side.)


There actually is a good bit of offroading on private timber property around the area you're in that's sometimes of questionable legality. I used to do some neat offroad exploration around Sparta and then go do an overnight backpacking loop at Virgin Falls. A $10 hunting permit on Bowater/Willamette land used to get you access to all the old logging road networks, but I don't know if that's still the case. However, all of that is not something I'd publicly recommend unless you check permissions/etc. Similarly, there are some neat semi-legal segments around most of the lakes on TVA or Corps land. Most WMAs have some neat trails that are really meant for hunting access but double as offroad trails in the summer. You won't find those on the various apps, but they're fun to explore, and most WMAs will have a motor vehicle use map or similar to let you know what you can access. If you ask around locally, you can definitely find some neat spots that access to is anything between welcomed to tolerated but definitely not publicized. Offroading in the SE is quite different that out west where there's tons of BLM land.

I realize this is all a bit vague, but I haven't been in the area in a long time, so I'm trying to avoid specific trails/etc recommendations because what I remember probably isn't relevant anymore. Hopefully this can get you pointed in the right direction anyway.

 

[Oberle]

Take Parson Branch road (one way off road)off of Cades Cove loop to the trailhead leading to Gregory Bald and backcountry site #13 (Sheep Pen Gap).

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