Wheeling in Tennessee

Over the last two weeks, I came home to help take care of my Mom. She was very recently diagnoses with lung cancer and needs surgery. She really doesn’t have anyone to take care of her, so I arranged with my work to take a short leave and be with her. Great news! The surgery was a success and all of the cancer has been removed! We really couldn’t ask for a better outcome. During her hospital stay, I tried to stay close to the hospital or with her in her room. You never know when you’ll be needed. After getting her home and getting her settled, I found that I could have a couple hours a day to myself while she rested. Of course, I spent that time in my Jeep! 

While in the hospital I asked my Uncle if he knew of any off road or Jeep trails in the area. He said he did. He then told me that when you get your mom home and settled, call me and we’ll try to find some. The first chance that my mom gave me some time off, I called my Uncle and met him at his house. He met me by his garage with mud boots in hand. It was a perfect, beautiful day with tons of sunshine and blue skies. We took off toward Hampton and to the Dennis Cove area in the Cherokee National Forest. He used to hunt and motorcycle in this area. He knew every angle and road in the area. We had a great time running these forest roads and sharing stories. He used to have and International Harvester Scout that he would run on these. We went to areas with names such as Frog Level, Frog Level Bottom, Cub Den, Pond Mountain, Coon Den, Laurel Fork, White Oak and Buck Mountain. There were a few trails that we would go down that would be gates off at some point. We would have to turn around and come back up. but that was ok. We were having a great time. I was amazed by how much we climbed and how steep the sides of the mountain was. None of the trails were difficult. They were probably 2 or 3s on the difficulty scale. But it was great to get out in the mountains away from any civilization.

I had gotten the bug. The next time my mom gave me a few hours to get away, I headed up toward Roan Mountain. I remember going to Ripshin Lake with a great friend of mine from high school. It had been years and I thought it would be cool to go see it. I made the turn onto Ripshin Mountain Rd. It was a steep, narrow mountain road. This was super fun to drive even if it was paved. At the top was this beautiful, peaceful lake. I drove around it for a little bit and was about to drive back down when I noticed a small gravel road. What the heck, I took it. This was a nice road that was well maintained. I wondered where this would head. But before I had traveled more than a mile, I noticed a not so well maintained two-track on the left. Why not? I am so glad I took this. It was steep and narrow and rocky. There were a few times that I thought I should turn around. I was questioning my abilities and if my Jeep was capable. There wasn’t any room to turn around anywhere, which I am so thankful for. It forced me to try this and succeed! I got to crawl and do things I hadn’t done before. In one of the corners, the rear end slid down. This was a little off putting. I didn’t have control of the back half of my Jeep. It worked out though. This was an awesome drive. My friend Rob would be super proud of me! I was nervous but my Jeep and I survived.

The next day I took off to reconquer the first days ride. I had seen a couple of “roads” that we didn’t take. And my wandering nature kicked in. Instead of turning right as we did at White Oak previously, I turned left. This one was less travelled and narrower. The views into the steep values were still spectacular. There were small offshoot trails that would join the “main” road. But most were gated off. If it wasn’t gated, I went for it. One of the trails was incredibly steep. I videoed this drive. The video doesn’t do it justice and I knew it wouldn’t. This trail went straight to the top of this ridge. Once at the top, the trail split. I took the right trail. After about 100 feet, it just ended. And by ended, I mean it just dropped off into the ravine below. So, I carefully backed out of that trail. The trees were too close together to turn around. I then tried the left. There was a large stump directly in the center without room on either side to go around. I think I might have had the clearance, but without a spotter I didn’t want to take any chances. So again, I backed down to the fork and turned around there. It was just as fun to go down the steep trail as it was to go up! 

My Uncle called again wondering if I wanted to go to a new area. Of course! I almost believe he was having as much fun as I was. I definitely enjoyed running around in the mountains with him. He was such a huge influence in my younger years as a Boy Scout and outdoorsman. We headed up to the other side of Ripshin Mountain going in at Tiger Creek Road. He knew the area there really well and had built a little hunting cabin there years before. This one was great. Not as technical but still awesome. There were steep inclines and very sharp corners climbing up to the top. Once we got back into an area that had several ponds that were part of Odom’s Trout lakes. It was awesome to see these ponds but they were mostly dried up and not maintained. They had been quite the attraction back in the day. After the ponds the trail got a lot rockier and had areas that had been washed out. There wasnt any water or mud for that matter. But made for a rough and slow climb out. Of course, this is what I loved… larger rocks and ditches to traverse. There were two creeks that would have been fun to cross, if there had actually been water in them. It was comical that the two creeks had no water. And I wanted a dirty Jeep. After that, we pretty much made our way to better trails, then to gravel and then to asphalt. The road was still only one car width wide. It was awesome to be that remote and not be that far away from a city. We ended up coming out at Simerly Creek. I knew where we started and knew where we ended. But, in between, I had no idea.

Over this week, I had four days of wheeling. I covered almost all of the mountains between Hampton and Roan Mountain. This has been a ton of fun. I do wish that there would have been some water ANYWHERE. There were small puddles here and there that did nothing but a little splash on the side. Have you ever had unexpected chances to wheel? Do you any favorites in East Tennessee? I know there are more places. Let us know.