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Hiking Tennessee
"Hiking Tennessee" is your complete guide to 85 of the most scenic day hikes in the Volunteer State. From the Pioneer Trail in Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park to the Hidden Passage Trail in Pickett State Park to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, this handy guide will lead you to the best trails throughout the state. In this one-of-a-kind resource, you'll find the following features:
- Detailed descriptions complete with GPS coordinates for every hike in all three regions of Tennessee
- Special points of interest, including Civil War-era and Native American historical sites; descriptions of the topography, flora, fauna, and climate; estimated hiking time and distance; and difficulty ratings for each trail
- Phone numbers and websites, park hours and rules, and available facilities for the state's most scenic hiking areas
- Easy-to-read maps for every park and trail to help you navigate your hike and locate landmarks and other points of interest
- A convenient trail finder that provides a summary of each trail's features and available facilities
"Hiking Tennessee "brings to life the history, terrain, wildlife, and natural features of each area. The vivid descriptions of the foliage, animals, and well-known and local historical accounts of each area provide an invitation to explore and experience the trails for yourself." Hiking Tennessee" is your guide to enjoying the great outdoors!
- Detailed descriptions complete with GPS coordinates for every hike in all three regions of Tennessee
- Special points of interest, including Civil War-era and Native American historical sites; descriptions of the topography, flora, fauna, and climate; estimated hiking time and distance; and difficulty ratings for each trail
- Phone numbers and websites, park hours and rules, and available facilities for the state's most scenic hiking areas
- Easy-to-read maps for every park and trail to help you navigate your hike and locate landmarks and other points of interest
- A convenient trail finder that provides a summary of each trail's features and available facilities
"Hiking Tennessee "brings to life the history, terrain, wildlife, and natural features of each area. The vivid descriptions of the foliage, animals, and well-known and local historical accounts of each area provide an invitation to explore and experience the trails for yourself." Hiking Tennessee" is your guide to enjoying the great outdoors!
264 pages, Paperback
First published April 15, 2015
About the author
Victoria Steele Logue
24 books78 followersVictoria Logue is a graduate of Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia. After graduation, Victoria worked as a writer for two daily newspapers in Georgia—the Warner Robins Daily Sun and The Rome News-Tribune. During that time, she garnered awards for her feature writing and personal columns from the Georgia Press Association and the Special Olympics. She and her husband, Frank, also spent two months in Kathmandu, Nepal, documenting daily life and customs.
In 1988, the Logues quit their jobs to hike the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail. For six months they backpacked across the backbone of the eastern United States from Georgia to Maine. Upon returning home, the Logues wrote their first book, The Appalachian Trail Backpacker, which was published in 1991 by Menasha Ridge Press.
The Logues have appeared on CNN and numerous local TV and talk radio shows. The Logues were also guests on the Discovery Channel's series, “Go For It.” For more than two years, the Logues hosted a weekly online chat on long distance hiking for Backpacker magazine on America Online.
Victoria has served as the editor of the Old Dominion Sierran, The Brunswick News lifestyle section and Georgia's Coastal Illustrated. She was also a contributing editor for Outdoor Traveler, Mid-Atlantic Region.
Victoria continues working as an author and writer. She is a Tertiary in the Third Order, Society of Saint Francis, a certified labyrinth facilitator and is involved in promoting spirituality through leading retreats.
Her most recent non-fiction work is Feast of Feasts, an Advent through Epiphany devotional cowritten with her husband based on Franciscan values. She has also written four novels based in the fantasy-world of the Thirteen Kingdoms.
In 1988, the Logues quit their jobs to hike the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail. For six months they backpacked across the backbone of the eastern United States from Georgia to Maine. Upon returning home, the Logues wrote their first book, The Appalachian Trail Backpacker, which was published in 1991 by Menasha Ridge Press.
The Logues have appeared on CNN and numerous local TV and talk radio shows. The Logues were also guests on the Discovery Channel's series, “Go For It.” For more than two years, the Logues hosted a weekly online chat on long distance hiking for Backpacker magazine on America Online.
Victoria has served as the editor of the Old Dominion Sierran, The Brunswick News lifestyle section and Georgia's Coastal Illustrated. She was also a contributing editor for Outdoor Traveler, Mid-Atlantic Region.
Victoria continues working as an author and writer. She is a Tertiary in the Third Order, Society of Saint Francis, a certified labyrinth facilitator and is involved in promoting spirituality through leading retreats.
Her most recent non-fiction work is Feast of Feasts, an Advent through Epiphany devotional cowritten with her husband based on Franciscan values. She has also written four novels based in the fantasy-world of the Thirteen Kingdoms.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 7, 2015
This book was very informative and interesting. For those who enjoy hiking specifically in tennessee its second to none. Very descriptive and easy to follow. If your not already into hiking you will be intrigued to try it from this book. Pleasantly surprised by the detail.
August 6, 2015
The good:
-Hike descriptions are super-detailed. A few of them might even take longer to read than to hike! Emphasis is given to pointing out natural and historical features found along the trail, making the descriptions far more than simply directions on how to complete the hike.
-GPS points are given for virtually every feature identified in the hike descriptions.
-This book is an excellent guide to Tennessee's state parks. I think every state park with a trail or path of any sort is featured, with the exception of the two newest that opened within the last few months (Seven Islands and Rocky Fork). On the flip side, all but four of the areas listed are state parks--and there are tons of great places to hike in Tennessee that aren't state parks!
-The overview text of each park is extensive, educated, and readable.
-I like the "hike finder" chart listing at the beginning, that shows the types of terrain and natural features found on each trail.
-This is a pretty book, well organized and a pleasure to read. The author is both knowledgeable and a clear communicator.
The bad:
-The emphasis seems to be on very short trails. I count 14 "trails" under 1 mile, and 56 that are under 3 miles. In many cases, significantly better trails at a park are overlooked in favor of short jaunts. As an example, the wonderful 4.5 or so mile Cub Creek Lake Trail at Natchez Trace State Park is well worth a visit to the park for its water features, walk across the dam, combination ridge and bottomland hiking, and optional wire traverse across a stream (not to mention that it's a loop that connects with a pair of beautiful bridges across the lobes of the lake, not a one-way trail as stated in the guide). The Fairview Gullies Trail, a 1 mile loop through astonishing erosive features, is another great choice. But this book gives a full page description of the half-mile Fern Nature Loop instead--a cute interpretive trail, but it's not going to inspire anyone to drive the 100 or so miles from either Nashville or Memphis to hike it, whereas better choices would.
-The maps are very simplistic, just black and white drawings of roads, trails, water features, a few icons, and numbered points along the trail that refer to the legend and text descriptions. In many cases, these could be simply labelled on the map. No topo lines are shown, so ridgelines are not obvious at all, a glaring oversight. No scale is given. The overview maps of the park frequently don't identify the trailheads for the hikes (and sometimes don't even share any features!), which makes it difficult or impossible to match up the hike detail map to the park map.
-Elevation data isn't readily found. This is a must for any Tennessee hiking book!
-The book is a big, heavy 8.5x11" package that I really couldn't see taking on a hike. Hello, scan and print and the questionable copyright law interpretation that entails...
Probably more "Walking Tennessee" than "Hiking Tennessee". Good for its coverage of lesser-known trails, but all too frequently these are lesser known because they don't present much in the effort/reward ratio. This volume could have been considerably better with improved maps and more compelling hike choices.
-Hike descriptions are super-detailed. A few of them might even take longer to read than to hike! Emphasis is given to pointing out natural and historical features found along the trail, making the descriptions far more than simply directions on how to complete the hike.
-GPS points are given for virtually every feature identified in the hike descriptions.
-This book is an excellent guide to Tennessee's state parks. I think every state park with a trail or path of any sort is featured, with the exception of the two newest that opened within the last few months (Seven Islands and Rocky Fork). On the flip side, all but four of the areas listed are state parks--and there are tons of great places to hike in Tennessee that aren't state parks!
-The overview text of each park is extensive, educated, and readable.
-I like the "hike finder" chart listing at the beginning, that shows the types of terrain and natural features found on each trail.
-This is a pretty book, well organized and a pleasure to read. The author is both knowledgeable and a clear communicator.
The bad:
-The emphasis seems to be on very short trails. I count 14 "trails" under 1 mile, and 56 that are under 3 miles. In many cases, significantly better trails at a park are overlooked in favor of short jaunts. As an example, the wonderful 4.5 or so mile Cub Creek Lake Trail at Natchez Trace State Park is well worth a visit to the park for its water features, walk across the dam, combination ridge and bottomland hiking, and optional wire traverse across a stream (not to mention that it's a loop that connects with a pair of beautiful bridges across the lobes of the lake, not a one-way trail as stated in the guide). The Fairview Gullies Trail, a 1 mile loop through astonishing erosive features, is another great choice. But this book gives a full page description of the half-mile Fern Nature Loop instead--a cute interpretive trail, but it's not going to inspire anyone to drive the 100 or so miles from either Nashville or Memphis to hike it, whereas better choices would.
-The maps are very simplistic, just black and white drawings of roads, trails, water features, a few icons, and numbered points along the trail that refer to the legend and text descriptions. In many cases, these could be simply labelled on the map. No topo lines are shown, so ridgelines are not obvious at all, a glaring oversight. No scale is given. The overview maps of the park frequently don't identify the trailheads for the hikes (and sometimes don't even share any features!), which makes it difficult or impossible to match up the hike detail map to the park map.
-Elevation data isn't readily found. This is a must for any Tennessee hiking book!
-The book is a big, heavy 8.5x11" package that I really couldn't see taking on a hike. Hello, scan and print and the questionable copyright law interpretation that entails...
Probably more "Walking Tennessee" than "Hiking Tennessee". Good for its coverage of lesser-known trails, but all too frequently these are lesser known because they don't present much in the effort/reward ratio. This volume could have been considerably better with improved maps and more compelling hike choices.
May 27, 2015
I couldn't wait for this book to arrive. The Logues' Appalachian Trail Hiker got me section hiking the A.T. But now I am dating a guy who wants to hike, but isn't ready for overnights. I looked through the book and flagged hikes that interested me and passed it along. I couldn't believe he picked a trip to the South Cumberland Recreation Plateau.
We had a great hike on the Big Creek Rim and Laurel Trails Loop. This is why I love a great guidebook. We discovered a loop we would not have found on our own. Using three trails for one 7.4-mile hike, we enjoyed some spectacular sites on well-maintained trail. The next day we stopped by the Foster Falls Trail for a perfect short hike before heading home.
With one idyllic weekend behind us, we headed up to Roan Mountain the next week. I already loved the area, but while I had hiked through on the A.T., I had not done the day hike to Laurel Fork Falls. A little crowded for our tastes, the trail is beautiful. The day recovered when we went up to the A.T. for the hike out and back to Jane Bald.
The book is a big 8.5 x 11. This could be a downside, but photocopied front and back, it gave us the one trail directions and maps we wanted with the guidance in picking hikes we needed. Now we are looking at taking on some sections of the Cumberland Trail.
We had a great hike on the Big Creek Rim and Laurel Trails Loop. This is why I love a great guidebook. We discovered a loop we would not have found on our own. Using three trails for one 7.4-mile hike, we enjoyed some spectacular sites on well-maintained trail. The next day we stopped by the Foster Falls Trail for a perfect short hike before heading home.
With one idyllic weekend behind us, we headed up to Roan Mountain the next week. I already loved the area, but while I had hiked through on the A.T., I had not done the day hike to Laurel Fork Falls. A little crowded for our tastes, the trail is beautiful. The day recovered when we went up to the A.T. for the hike out and back to Jane Bald.
The book is a big 8.5 x 11. This could be a downside, but photocopied front and back, it gave us the one trail directions and maps we wanted with the guidance in picking hikes we needed. Now we are looking at taking on some sections of the Cumberland Trail.
July 9, 2024
Won through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers. I'll start my review by saying I have not personally hiked any of the trails listed in this book. Hiking Tennessee offers a lot of helpful and interesting information about each hike and the surrounding area. It walks you through each trail listing distances and mile markers as well as directions to get to the trailhead, difficulty level, hours the trail is open and any available facilities or permits required. Although all the hikes listed are day hikes, many could easily be extended.
As with Hiking Ohio by the same company- I feel that a difficulty rating of 2/5 for a hike that is 90% boardwalk and less than 2 miles is inaccurate. I can only speculate that the book is not geared towards avid hikers.
Also as with Hiking Ohio, I love the chart in the beginning of the book that allows easy reference of parks, trail names, trail distance, difficulty and amenities. It makes it easy to quickly find a destination. Overall, this is a great book for anyone who enjoys hiking.
As with Hiking Ohio by the same company- I feel that a difficulty rating of 2/5 for a hike that is 90% boardwalk and less than 2 miles is inaccurate. I can only speculate that the book is not geared towards avid hikers.
Also as with Hiking Ohio, I love the chart in the beginning of the book that allows easy reference of parks, trail names, trail distance, difficulty and amenities. It makes it easy to quickly find a destination. Overall, this is a great book for anyone who enjoys hiking.
May 29, 2015
My brother's family recently moved to Tennessee so we have become aware of how beautiful the state is. When I saw this book offered LibraryThing's giveaway program, I requested it immediately and was thrilled to get it. The book divides Tennessee into three sections, East, Middle and West. It has a chapter for each state park. It gives detailed information on the hiking trails in each, including what kind of terrain, difficulty and cautions. There are maps, there is lots of area information, there are phone numbers and hours. There is information about camping sites and other things to see in the area. If I lived in Tennessee, I think I would use this as a challenge to see how many of these hikes I could complete. Since I only get to visit, I'll be looking through this book to find the best ones for the limited time we are there. It looks like an invaluable resource for those living or spending time in Tennessee.
September 1, 2015
just received this book, i have only hiked in the Catskills in NY but hope to someday get to Tennessee to hike. This is a very comprehensive guide. It lists the length of the hike and estimated time. What to be cautious of along with directions. My favorite part is a section for other areas of interest near the hike.
May 5, 2015
Awesome book! It is detailed and easy to find anything you are interested in knowing about all of the different parks/trails. A plethora of information for everyone from the beginning hiker to the veteran.
April 1, 2016
I am so glad I picked up this book as I found some incredible hikes I would have missed without it. Plenty of detail. Well organized. A helpful book.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews