Mtn Bike Rides

Big South Fork
Bike Rides

Distance: 100+ miles
Rating: easy to strenuous
Elevation: 850' to 1500'

Maps: USGS Quadrangles: Barthell SW, Honey Creek, and various maps and books are available at the Bandy Creek headquarters.

Access: The Bandy Creek campground and park headquarters lie west of Oneida (US 27) and east of Jamestown (US 127) off of TN 297.

Description: The Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area spans more than 100,000 acres on the Cumberland Plateau. It is a multi-use area offering hiking, canoeing, hunting, rock climbing, horseback riding, and bicycling. Check with the rangers about deer hunts in late November and December. Wear your orange, try not to look like a deer.

The trail systems skirt the sandstone cliffs of the Big South Fork River and descend (steeply) to its tributaries. The Bandy Creek Campground offers a pool, tent, RV, and group camping, with hot showers and stables. Cabins are available in nearby Pickett State Park. Bicycles may use the jeep roads or horse trails. The horse trails are heavily used and can be muddy and sandy. The lower elevation trails often have numerous water crossings, and some may be impassable at high water.

Joe Cross and other volunteers have developed some bicycle-only trails. See Duncan Hollow loop (5.3 miles) or Collier Ridge loop (8 miles) bike trail maps.

Other bikeable trails (see area map) include O&W railroad bed from Verdun (up to 32 miles), the O&W overlook (3 miles round trip), the North White Oak overlook (Gar Blevins jeep road, 7 miles), and Gernt Road (6 miles). More ambitious rides include the North White Oak Loop (20 miles), Duncan Hollow Rd to Station Camp Creek (9 miles) and returning by the Charit Creek Lodge trail (7.1 miles), or Station Camp East loop (13 miles), or the Hatfield Ridge loop (10 miles).

The O&W railroad bed out of Verdun (1410') is a gentle ride of 8 miles to the bridge (940') over the Big South Fork. The road follows Pine Creek and turns to gravel at 0.5 miles. A good parking place is at Toomey Road (mile 3.8, 1250') just before one of the crossings of Pine Creek. (Toomey road climbs to 1540' and joins TN 297 in 2.4 miles.) The O&W road becomes rougher (more potholes) and more scenic, and at mile 6.5 Piney Creek joins the Big South Fork as the road runs north through a wall of rock. The rider looks down on the Big South Fork and up to the sandstone cliffs above. From the O&W bridge (mile 8.1, 940'), a horse trail goes north 2.3 miles to Leatherwood Ford (900') on TN 297. The O&W road continues across the bridge and up North White Oak Creek to a wet crossing at mile 9.6 (900', avoid in high water). The railroad bed gently climbs along the creek and has some bus-sized mud holes and several wet creek crossings. The Coyle Branch trail (mile 11.1) climbs back up to jeep roads that lead back to Bandy Creek, or you can go further up the rail bed to the Gernt Road ascent (mile 13.6), or further still to Zenith (mile 15.5, 1060') where you have to ford the creek again. The rail bed continues to follow the creek for another 8 or so miles, but the section is not maintained.