Twin Arches Trail, Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, Scott County, Tennessee

(Click to enlarge pictures)

 

     Big South Fork NRRA is probably my favorite hiking destination in all of Tennessee. I had already been to Twin Arches once prior to this trip, and I was able to tell Shell without any doubt that the trail was pretty much a cinch, a two mile loop to probably the most spectacular single feature of the South Cumberland. She is not as enthusiastic a hiker as am I, but she didn’t take much convincing. Plus, she is a superb photographer and knew she would get some great shots.

          Shell on the trail, and P. J. almost at the arches, which you can see over his head.

 

          Shell and Peej took in the sights from one of the overlooks, then we proceeded over the top of the arches. What an experience! I hadn’t gone this way the first time I was here.

 

               Left: Peej on the trail…with a giant before him! Center: from the base of South Arch. Right: Shell and Peej dwarfed by South Arch.

 

          Soaring rock formations everywhere, building-sized boulders, crevices and caves, and tiered walls that look like some behemoth’s ladder. It is all just amazingly epic in scale.

 

          Of course they’re not solution caves, but they are caves, and as cavers, we must of course explore…

 

     Peej and I in “sepia”, a glamour shot courtesy of Shell and our then-new Sony Cyber-Shot.

 

          Left: another study in sepia beneath South Arch. The remarkable beach-like crystalline sand appears almost as snow! Right: the three of us, and a whole lot of sand.

 

          

Left: the underappreciated North Arch in the sunlight. Center: under the lintel of the North Arch. Right: us three at South Arch.

 

          

But it’s not all rock at Big South Fork. Nature puts on a tremendous show here. Left: Shell points out some tiny buds along the trail. Center: some pretty white wildflowers I can’t even begin to identify. Right: more “whatsits.” These almost look like thistles, but probably aren’t.

 

               Left to right: big trees framed in an even bigger arch, Peej and I exploring, and an interesting-looking tree desperately clinging to the rock.

 

               There are interesting things all over: at left, a tree with a supremely intricate root system (it took four shots to get one worthy of its elegance!) and a couple of views of a very interesting rock wall. There are two views because I can’t decide which should be up and which should be down!

 

          

Finally it is time to leave, and Shell and Peej head up the steps back toward the trailhead parking area. Later, we pose for a picture by the Big South Fork welcome sign, and later still, I get this neat picture of some purple flowers at Mark Twain Park in Jamestown.

 

 

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