I first visited Big South Fork National Recreation Area about 25 years ago, soon after I moved to Columbus. When recently trying to find someplace to camp and hike for a dew days, I noticed it on the map and decided to head down there again.
The road into the park was really twisty, with several short-radius switchbacks. I was pulling a 20 foot travel trailer and managed fine, but the road may be tricky with long trailers. You will be using both lanes on some of the switchbacks.
The Bandy Creek campground is big and has a lot of great campsites. It was mostly empty while I was there. I stayed from Wednesday through Sunday and I shared an entire section of the campground (a loop in section D) with only one other camper. Most of the sites have electric and this allowed me to enjoy some air conditioning when I got back from my hikes.
This was Maia’s first real hiking experience. She turned out to be a great trail dog. It has been a while since I’ve been able to hike with one of my dogs because my other two dogs have become too old for all but the shortest trails. This has also kept me away from hiking much more than I would like. It was a great feeling to hit the trails again.
The hike to Twin Arches seems to be the show piece for the park and made it worth the trip. There are other places in Tennessee that are more scenic over all, but this is a nice park that offers great camping facilities. The area seems to be geared more for equestrian trail riding, with many outfitters located throughout the surrounding area. On my last evening, I hiked back to Twin Arches as the sun was setting on the other side of the arches.
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