It’s Almost Like You’re ‘Hiking’ in Your Car on This Tennessee Trail
Not everyone can do everything they want to do. I'll own it...I have some arthritis in my right knee that prevents me from going on long hikes across certain rugged terrain. I love the outdoors and always do as much as I can.
However, if you were to throw a couple of quotation marks around the word "hike," well, now we're talking. One of the coolest trails I've ever seen doesn't advertise itself as a "hike" without leaving your vehicle, but I do. It's the Roaring Fork Motor Natural Trail, and it's much easier to write than say. I label a motorized "hike" because the trail is quite narrow, a single-lane path with just enough room for one vehicle at a time...like a hiking trail.
Just head to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park--something that doesn't need much arm-twisting--and prepare for a 5.5-mile side jaunt on a beautiful stretch of Tennessee road that will take you where many roads won't or can't. "Adventurer" Ryan knows a next-level trail when he sees one, or drives one, I guess. His preview from a year ago could be THIS year's with how the fall foliage is coming along.
(Bonus points for Ely's Mill with all the souvenirs and DARK CHOCOLATE.)
One of my favorite features of Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail is that a couple of waterfalls are accessible by car. Typically, you have to wander deep into the woods on foot and hope you don't get Blair-Witched. That is not the case on this wonderful trail someone had the good sense to carve out of one of the most magnificent mountain ranges on the planet.
Just make sure you get there before it closes for winter, and, of course, enjoy your "hike."
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Gallery Credit: Sarah Jones