About Knoxville, Tennessee
Real Estate Guide

Whether on land or water, there's something fun for everyone

Outdoor recreation is one of the Knoxville area's strongest selling points for obvious reasons. Just look at the lay of the land.

Located at the upper end of the Tennessee River Valley, Knoxville is surrounded by lakes. The city overlooks Fort Loudoun Lake, the first impoundment along the Tennessee River. Upstream, you'll find Norris, Cherokee and Douglas lakes.

Lakes mean flatwater recreation, mainly bass fishing and power boating. For whitewater recreation, you have to leave the valley and head for the mountains.

Just west of Knoxville is the Cumberland Plateau, a complex of river gorges and rugged terrain that offers some of the best caving (Tennessee has more documented caves than any state in the United States), and whitewater paddling in the South.

East of Knoxville are the Appalachian Mountains, where you'll find the Cherokee National Forest, Tennessee's only national forest, and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited national park in the United States.

The Ocoee River, the site of the 1996 Olympic slalom races, is in the southern portion of the Cherokee National Forest, as is the Hiwassee River. Both rivers are dam controlled and provide whitewater recreation throughout the summer.

East Tennessee is more densely populated than Middle or West Tennessee, but it also has more public lands, the largest being Cherokee National Forest, at 640,000 acres, and the Smokies, at 520,000 acres.

The Cherokee National Forest boasts 700 miles of hiking trails, including about 150 miles of the Appalachian Trail. The Smokies has about 900 miles of maintained hiking trails, including about 70 miles of the A.T., which hugs the Tennessee-North Carolina line through the park's highest elevations.

Some of East Tennessee's finest recreational opportunities are off the beaten path. The Obed Wild and Scenic River is best known for its whitewater paddling and rock climbing. In Morgan County on the Cumberland Plateau, the park protects more than 45 miles of creeks and rivers. The National Park Service manages the Obed with an emphasis on preserving the wilderness character of the river gorges.

The Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area also is on the Cumberland Plateau, partly in Tennessee and partly in Kentucky. Like the Obed, the Big South Fork is managed by the National Park Service. Unlike most national parks, the Big South Fork permits hunting, mountain biking, and horseback riding, as well as hiking and paddling. The park covers 120,000 acres — much of it along river gorges as deep as 800 feet. Thirty minutes west of Oneida, Tenn., the Big South Fork attracts roughly 900,000 visitors a year.

Tennessee has 54 state parks. Some of the oldest, and most scenic, are within an hour's drive of Knoxville. These include Frozen Head State Park and Natural Area, near Wartburg, which is often described as a miniature version of the Smokies, and Panther Creek State Park, a semi-urban park with miles of lake frontage, and a first-class system of mountain biking trails.

And speaking of trails, there are two newcomers on the scene, both at Knoxville's back door. The first is the Benton MacKaye Trail, a 300-mile footpath that offers a less-crowded alternative to the Appalachian Trail.

Completed in 2005, the Benton MacKaye Trail's southern end is at Springer Mountain, Ga., the same terminus as the Appalachian Trail. The Benton MacKaye Trail then winds 92 miles through northern Georgia and 185 miles through Tennessee's Cherokee National Forest before entering the Smokies. All but about 10 miles of the trail are on public lands, and most of the trail overlaps pre-existing trails, such as the Appalachian Trail.

The second new trail is the Cumberland Trail State Park, which is still being built, and one day will stretch 300 miles along the eastern escarpment of the Cumberland Plateau from Cumberland Gap to Chattanooga. Half of the Cumberland Trail is already finished and available to hikers.

The completed segments are on public lands such as wildlife management areas and state parks. The Obed Wild and Scenic River has 13 miles of the Cumberland Trail and completed segments also can be found along Cumberland Mountain, near the town of LaFollette, and in the rugged Cumberland Mountains in Campbell and Scott counties, just west of Interstate 75.