Take a beautiful fall drive out to the northeastern corner of Middle Tennessee, near Jamestown, to the expansive Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area for a wealth of natural wonder, hiking, rocky formations, historic homestead sites, an old coal mining town and all manner of outdoor recreational opportunities.

Big South Fork, located in both Tennessee and Kentucky, “protects 125,000 acres of the Cumberland Plateau,” according to the National Park Service, and contains 150 miles of marked hiking trails.

The massive park, and the fact that different entrances lead to different portions of Big South Fork, could overwhelm first-time park visitors.

The trail to Slave Falls makes a reasonable place to start exploring and provides some good examples of the area terrain—stone arches, shelters and overhangs carved into rocky walls, and thick vegetation.

Pine cones and fallen leaves (some huge leaves!) were everywhere in late October; be mindful of lots of thorns near the trail.

Those looking for the trailheads to Slave Falls and the Twin Arches enter off of Tennessee Highway 154; turn onto Divide Road to enter this section of Big South Fork, and then a right turn on Fork Ridge Road leads to the Sawmill Trailhead, the access point for Slave Falls and Needle Point Arch.

A hike taking in the sights along this trail area can be of various distances—for a quick excursion, a simple out-and-back to the Slave Falls Base and back is a fairly level 1.5-mile trip, suitable for beginner hikers.

Approaching the trail as a loop and returning on the longer leg of the Slave Falls Loop Trail makes for a 3.2-mile hike.

Or, for the advanced hiking group up for a full day, a 10-mile trek will get you to Slave Falls and surrounding points, all the way to the Twin Arches, and back.

Adding a spur that travels past a feature known as Needle Arch, which takes you to a Slave Falls Overlook to the full Slave Falls Loop Trail, results in a 4.2-mile adventure.

Not far from Slave Falls, find Needle Arch, a small but special rocky archway, a good spot to pause for a moment of silence in the Tennessee forest. A small cave there appears just large enough for one person to sleep in. The Slave Falls name comes from the runaway slaves who would hide in the various caverns, crags, rock shelters, hills and hollers of the terrain.

Continuing on the trail past Needle Arch leads to another arch and cave, this one known as Mill Creek Arch. This arch contains a small skylight hole in the roof of the cave. (Note: As lovely as these two rock formations are, they are not the much taller “Twin Arches” found elsewhere in the park.)

The trail ahead of Mill Creek Arch leads to some steeper and narrower portions of trail—nothing too wild, but more challenging than the parts before. It is up to the hikers if they want to approach it as a loop and keep going to get to the quiet and secluded woods ahead.

Either direction will lead to Slave Falls, which in reality can yield only a trickle of water during dry times, such as on a recent late-October day. Still, the basin surrounding the falls was an impressive and serene area to climb and explore for an adventuresome group of park visitors.

Even though the 60-foot-tall waterfall was barely a trickle (“We shut off the valve,” another hiker joked as he was leaving the falls), the rocky bowl at the base felt like a miniature Fall Creek Falls.

At Slave Falls, truly connecting the two ends of the trail as a loop—traveling from one waypoint at the side of the Slave Falls basin to the other—requires a somewhat perilous scramble down wet rocks into the basin, behind the falls and up the other side, but doable for the cautiously determined.

Twin Arches photo courtesy of Tennessee Dept. of Environment and Conservation

Those who want to view the Twin Arches without making a 10-mile hike can drive down a gravel road to a trailhead much closer to them.

One of these two towering sandstone arches tops 100 feet, with the other measuring 62 feet high.

These impressive geological formations “form the largest natural bridge complex in Tennessee and one of the largest known in the world,” according to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

Oscar Blevins Historic Farmstead photos courtesy of U.S. National Park Service

Elsewhere in the park, going in its main entrance a few miles away, Big South Fork also includes the Oscar Blevins Historic Farmstead and the Lora Blevins Historic Farmstead, preserving cabins and other structures constructed before the federal government took over the land.

Big South also preserves the Blue Heron Mining Community, located on the Kentucky side of the park, where visitors can learn about life in a company-owned coal mining town in the 1940s. The Big South Fork Scenic Railway still operates, taking a 14-mile trip down the gorge from Stearns, Kentucky, to Blue Heron.

Horseback riding is popular at Big South Fork, hunting is allowed in portions of the park, and other visitors enjoy rafting, camping, birdwatching, fishing and wildflower viewing.

Other hikes include Sunset Overlook, Angel Falls Rapids, Bear Creek Overlook and the Yahoo Falls Loop.

It’s an absolutely massive area; visitors can’t cover it all in one day. Plus, many of its secluded points of interest require some walking in order to experience them.

But plan ahead and select a few places and activities to see on a Tennessee day trip, or camp and spend a few days immersed in the area. Or, just pick a trail and go!

“Big South Fork is managed to promote its vast array of recreational opportunities. It is truly a four-season park for people to use and enjoy,” according to the National Park Service. “Come often and see the different faces the park wears during each season.”

Pickett State Park is nearby, too. Offering more options for hiking and natural sights, it includes the Indian Rockhouse, another stone feature of note accessible by a short hike, as well as yet another natural bridge.

Learn more about the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area at nps.gov/biso.

Find more on the Twin Arches and other Tennessee Natural Areas at tn.gov/environment/program-areas.

Another good resource offering details on hiking trails, feedback from hikers, maps, coordinates, photos and ideas for day trips, is alltrails.com.

___

Slave Falls / Needle Point Arch
Sawmill Trailhead
Fork Ridge Road, Jamestown, Tennessee (off of State Highway 154/Pickett Park Highway, north of Highway 297)

Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area Main Entrance / Blevins Historic Farmsteads
4564 Leatherwood Rd. (Highway 297), Oneida, Tennessee

Twin Arches
Twin Arches Road (off of Divide Road within the Big South Fork Recreation Area)