Easy Walks Goes to Tennessee

Dogwood in bloom throughout the woods in Tennessee right now

We have grandboys in Tennessee, north of Chattanooga, and so we visit as often as we can to enjoy boys on the farm. But while there. we look for easy walks that grandboys can participate in with us.

Lots of lovely flowers alongside the trail as we walked

Turns out we hit the jackpot the weekend we visited, just in time to enjoy the “Trails and Trilliums” festival at the South Cumberland State Park Visitor’s Center in Monteagle, TN.

Looking at the 3-D map of the area these boys call home.

The Visitor Center itself has a great 3-D map of the Plateau and the coves of the area, which has waterfalls, caves,  hiking trails, and amazing views from the edges of the bluffs in the area. But not only did we learn about a 2 mile loop trail on the Visitor Center property.

Enjoying the story, one page at a time along the trail

We also discovered a permanent installation of a Storywalk®, found volunteers offering information about composting,

Making friends with a snake at the Trails and Trillium festival

and also got a chance to hold lots of cool snakes and turtles,

One toasted marshmallow, quickly spreading in many directions

had help roasting marshmallows along the trail,

Making plans for additions to a fairy house in the woods

and were invited to make fairy houses in the woods.

Fun in the woods, hopping from tree stump to tree stump

On the grounds of the Visitor Center was a “Nature’s Play Area” where grandboys hopped from stump to stump and balanced on long logs. 

It’s a family effort at Solace Farm Homestead

While we took this Easy Walk, the boys’ mom, Amy, my daughter-in-law, worked at the craft fair nearby that was also part of “Trails and Trilliums” festival. She offers a large variety of soaps, shampoos, lip  balms, hand knitted caps, and other charming things. You can find a better list to all she has available at Solace Farm Homestead.

We had driven by the Visitor’s center many times in the past, but apparently an Easy Walk does not count as a hike. When we had asked before about places to walk, we were told the visitor center had no place to walk. Lesson learned–be sure to tell folks you are looking for Easy Walks when you ask about places to walk!

Start early learning about being in the outdoors

Marjorie

Marjorie Turner Hollman is a writer who loves the outdoors, and is the author of Easy Walks in Massachusetts, 2nd edition, More Easy Walks in Massachusetts, 2nd edition, Easy Walks and Paddles in the Ten Mile River Watershed, and Finding Easy Walks Wherever You Are. Her memoir, the backstory of Easy Walks, is My Liturgy of Easy Walks: Reclaiming hope in a world turned upside down.