About: 56 State Parks in Tennessee

In 2011 my husband asked if I would like to go on a hike the following morning. Apparently I had mentioned a few times about how I went hiking in middle school and once in high school and he thought I would enjoy hiking for my birthday. Knowing little about how to find a trail in the woods I googled relentlessly. That night I found guides and resources on different hikes in Tennessee, specifically the National Park.

The following day we went to Andrew’s Bald in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. This hike and the mixture of readily available resources online opened up a curiosity for the outdoors and the numerous trails Tennessee had to offer.

My personality is simple: I see a list of things, I must check them all off. So I set to my first goal – Hike the hardest trails in the Smokies.

Perceptively, I planned on having a family in the distant future so I would save easy hikes for later in life. Thus, I quickly began hiking every challenging hike within a days drive.

Focusing my attention on National Parks from 2012-2016 I checked my list off quick. Yosemite, Zion, Mammoth Cave, Bryson Canyon, etc – I wanted to visit them all and I pushed to visit as many as I could and hike as many trails in each one. Over the course of 5 years I easily hiked around 100 different trails and visited over 20 different parks or natural protected areas. However, I was slowing down and thinking more and more about starting a family.

Then in 2017 – Miles showed up in all of his 8lbs glory. Craving time outdoors after the last two months of pregnancy sloth life, I hiked in the Smokies while recovering from a C-Section, hurting each and every step. The trail was simple, quiet forest hike, it was exactly what I needed. While on this trail, I had an idea. What if Miles and I visited each state park in Tennessee? The ability to check something off one by one sent me into a frenzy of excitement. Sometimes we can hike, other times we simply will play, when it gets older we travel to the west side of the state and camp. Keep it easy, set expectations low and check items on off a list – just what I needed. I bought a TN State Park Passport for the two of us and a cute map to hang up in his room and started researching.

This blog I aim to do three things:

1. Document our trips to each state park – journaling purposes for myself and Miles.
2. Inspire others to get out of the house, leave the laundry and dirty floors. Put the kid(s) in the carseat get a giant coffee and say to yourself, “tired or not we are going”. All the while paint a true depiction of the experiences and not a creating a false “instagram” worthy post.
3. Share trails, kid friendly areas, obstacles, warnings and tips from each experience.

Hope you enjoy and challenge yourself to see what our beautiful state has to offer.