Hey Guys, I came back from a great trip down to Tennessee and forgot t tell you all about it.

I had planned to spend a week visiting several different trails in KY, TN and NC, but after riding at Coal Creek, I spent my whole trip there. Theres something like 50-70 miles of wide gravel roads. And then trails, ohhh the trails. I don't know but I would guess a few hundred miles of trails at least. Some were not so well marked and a few were closed or changed. But for the most part, it was a blast! I had a great time exploring. Not a bad place to bring a GPS and definitely get a map. They sell a nice one full color poster sized one. Its a couple of years old and not so accurate due to trail closures and changes because of mining operations. But I still found it very useful. The one you can download and print is probably more accurate because they update it more often but it was not as easy to navigate by. I found myself referring to both maps to understand where I was.

Because of some missing trailmarkers, I ended up on some "dead ends" or at least they could have been if I hadn't turned around. THis is a place where you can't really rely on their difficulty rating system; you have to use your own judgement. I had to turn around more than once and go back on their intermediate trails. But then, I ride by myself alot so I have to use more caution than most.

I love Hatfield McCoy but I think this place had better views! You also did a lot more altitude climbing, The highest point was over 3000 feet above sea level I believe.

Comming from NJ, I think my favorite part was getting to Knoxville in about 10 hours. Because of the mountains, it takes me 12 hours to get to Hatfield McCoy usually. So getting to Tennessee quicker was a big suprise. Also Motels.com found me rooms frojm $45 a night and suprisingly good rooms too. Days Inn? Even the motel manager looked surprised when she saw my rate!

http://www.windrockatv.com/

 

And if you come back to ride again - Windrock connects to Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area to the North/Northeast and to Brimstone Riding area to the North/Northwest. All together you have several hundred thousand acres of legal riding trails.

Makes me very glad I moved from NJ to Tennessee years ago.

Jaybee

 

Coal Creek is by far the best place I have ever rode. 10 hours for me to get there, but worth it.

 

I have to tell you every day as I drove from Knoxlille over to Oliver Springs, I thought about lookin for work locally and moving down there. It was beautiful everywhere I went.

BTW, I heard about the one area to the north you could ride into but I have yet to secure a safe way to carry extra gas on my ATV. So getting to the beginning of trail 57 was about as far as I could go before turning around. I didn't realize there were 2 other areas you could head off into.

But I will be back down in the spring and maybe I'll post my resume on some trees up along GR-1

Ha !