Check out this website: http://www.tdot.state.tn.us/projects/

It gives information related to specific TDOT road projects by county.  There is also contact information via phone and e-mail.  Good luck with your travel.

Happy Trails!

JacciB

I40 is shut down so you have to take 640 and pick I40 back up on the west side of Knoxville.Go all the way to exit 317 (Crossville / Jamestown)  take a right and in 28 mile you will be there.But it will be WARM.Hope you have a great time.We are going back in the Fall.

Thanks,  Newt

If you live in SC, you/your horses will be used to the heat.  We stayed at Timber Ridge last 4th of July(which is near East Fork) and I did not have a problem with the heat nor did my horses.  We did try to ride in the morning and the afternoon.  Really enjoyed our trip. Hope ya'll do too!!

Ride On!

As far as getting into the Big South area, I would suggest "NOT" trying to arrive from the East on Highway 297 the crosses the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River just east of Scott State Forest.  There is a gorge over there that has a 13 - 14 % downhill grade with many sharp switch backs.  On the map, it may seem closer to use 297, but coming up from Crossville, TN on Highway 127 into Jamestown, TN is a lot better drive.  There are some other messages posted on here about the Big South Fork, so just look through those & they have some more details about it.  Hope y'all have a wonderful time.  That area of TN on the Cumberland Plateau is amazing.  Seeing some of the horse communities that have trails directly from their houses out into the National Forest is great.  I'm looking forward to the next time that I can get back up on the plateau to do some more ridin'.

If you get there after about 12pm and want to do a short ride ,try the Stone House ride.A good all day ride is the River Ride (you cross the river 11 times) or Deer Gap is a goodin.E.F. is our favorite place to go ,the trails are awesome and the employes are super nice .If you need tack go to Big South Fork Tack Store they have everthing you need and it is just 40 mins. away. Hope you have a goodin.

Thanks, Newt

I think driving in on 127 is by far the best way to get there.  Distance wise it may be a little longer, but you take a lot less of a chance of putting undue stress & strain on yourself & your equipment getting there.  If you have some free time while you are there & have a vehicle that is not hooked up to a trailer, you should drive around some & look at the area.  To get over to the gorge from East Fork, you will go North on 127 & turn right onto 154 & turn onto 297.  297 will take you through a lot of horse country with some amazing horse communities that have trail access right into the Forest.  You can continue East on 297 & it will take you down & over the Cumberland River.  About 1+ mile(s) downstream from the bridge where 297 crosses the river there is an old railroad bridge that you can ride across.  It is the O&W bridge.  Somehow from the east end you can access it with vehicles.  I rode in from the west & came up the old train track bed that is beside the North White Oak Creek.  I stayed at True West Campground, so I was a little closer into the Forest.

Here is a link to the National Park Service map of the Big South Fork area:  http://www.nps.gov/carto/PDF/BISOmap1.pdf

Here are a couple more links that might be of interest:  http://www.nps.gov/biso/planyourvisit/horsebackriding.htm 

http://www.nps.gov/biso/planyourvisit/trailmaps.htm 

http://www.nps.gov/biso/index.htm

I'm from the upstate area - not too far from the Brickhouse trailhead & not too far from Croft State Park.  Within a couple of hours I can be up in NC to ride at Dupont or over to Clemson, SC to ride at Fants Grove.  Hope y'all have a great trip up there in TN.  The summer is a great time to ride there, while the flies / bugs give us fits down here.  Ha, ha!!

Here is a link to the US Forestry info on the Brickhouse trail:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/fms/rec/bumcombe.pdf

If you scroll down to page 2 of the PDF brochure, you will see the campground with a triangle like tee-pee icon on the map.  An easy way to ride this small part of the trail depends on where you park.  If you use the parking area / trailhead, then out down the gravel road toward the campground.  Just before the entrance to the campground, you will see where the horse trail crosses the gravel road.  You want to turn right onto the horse trail & follow it around the camp ground area.  While you are going around this way, the campground will be on your left side & the gravel road will be behind you.  If you are camping in the campground, just leave your camp site & turn left onto the trail as it comes around the campground.  The trail will go around about ½ of the campground before it turns out into the woods at the back corner of the campground.  On the map, you can see the mile markers #1, #2 & #3.  Somewhere between #2 & #3, the trail will come up to the back corner of a pasture.  The trail turns left & goes back into the woods.  If for some reason, you have a problem on this section of the trail, you can to help the quickest by going out the edge of this pasture toward the interstate I-26.  There is a tunnel under the interstate & you could probably get help from someone in the houses over there.  Back to the trail – if you are interested in an overall small trip of about 3 – 4 hours, you want to turn left between mile marker #3 & #4.  At this intersection, there should be kiosk showing the trail map.  Most people turn here so the trail should be worn more in that direction.  Less people go on toward mile marker #4 because once you start that way, you have to make the whole loop or turn around & back track.  There are not many connector trails like up at Croft.  If you turn left between #3 & #4, you will be heading back toward the gravel road #356.  Once you get to this gravel road, the horse trail crosses it & there should be another kiosk showing the trail map.  You want to turn left which will have you riding toward the paved Highway 66, with the gravel road on your left side.  This trail pretty much parallels the gravel road & you will even be able to see it in some places.  After about ¾ of a mile there will be another intersection on the trail that should contain another kiosk with the trail map on it.  You want to kind of turn left / go straight.  This will take you back toward the campground / trailhead.  After you go through this intersection you will cross gravel road #356, followed by a second gravel road about few minutes later.  This second one is just a short side road off of the main #356 road.  Once you cross that short second road, you will have about ½ - ¾ of a mile back to the trail head parking or just a little farther around to where the trail crosses beside the campground.  Depending on where you have parked, you may want to ride around to where it crosses by the ground & then turn toward your trailer.

The above mentioned trail is probably the smallest ‘loop’ on the horse trail out from the Brickhouse campground.  From looking at the Forest Service trail map, if you leave the campground & travel out toward mile marker #27 and travel about 1 ½ miles to the intersection with the first kiosk, you can turn right.  Then go out over Highway 66.  This is a long trip but it has a couple of nice creek bottoms if they have not dried up.  I have not ridden it in a couple of years.  About 6 years ago, I walked the whole upper loop by myself on foot.  It took me 6 ½ hours to go from the campground up & around the hole loop & back to the campground.  Depending on what type of horses you are riding, you may want to consider only trying to ride part of it & then turning around & travelling back to the camp or your trailer.  If you are riding gaited horses, you should be able to make the ride in one day without any problems.  In total, there is about 31 – 32 miles of trails around the Brickhouse campground if you did not backtrack on any of it.  If you are able to cover a lot of ground in one ride, you could ride all of the trails in a 2 – 3 day weekend.  A few years ago, I rode 52+ miles in 3 days down there while a saddle club was there for a benefit ride for the Shriners.  Unfortunately, they have stopped that benefit ride because of poor turnout.  At one time, there were 200 – 300+ riders at it.  The last ride had about 30 – 40 riders.  If you are looking for water on these trails, the short loop that I mentioned first above should have 2 creek crossings where you may be able to get some water.  The upper loop that crosses Highway 66 has about 3 – 5 crossings, if the water has not dried up.  But out close to mile marker #22 at the top of the loop, if you turn off of the trail going North on the gravel road #364, you can go less than ½ mile to the railroad bridge at Duncan Creek & there will be water there when nowhere else has any.  Duncan Creek is a larger creek in the area.  Also, gravel road #364 is a connector road that goes all the way back to Highway 66 if you had any trouble out on the trail.

Another place close to the Brickhouse is the Double J Ranch close to Whitmire, SC.  I have not been there yet, but from what I have heard, they have a lot of trails.  Here is a link to their website:

http://www.ridedoublejranch.com/

Hope y’all had a great & safe trip up to TN on the plateau.