Blog: Trail Adventure Stories

"Dad, dad, daaaaad!" We went to Farragut State Park to ride our mountain biking loop with the my daughter and the dog. There are a whole bunch of trails throughout the park and we've connected a number of them to compile a loop the kids love. It is moderate uphill from the bottom of the park to the visitor's center. On the way down, there are 5 fun drops and it's mostly downhill.We usually see deer, an assortment of rodents, wild turkeys, and other wildlife. We pass by an equestrian park, camp sites, canopied pine hollows, and more.One sunny day, we had finished our climb and then stopped to drink water at the visitor's center. We started the downhill section and had gone down two of the drops. I could hear my daughter yelling, "wooohoooo" as she descended behind me.I was in the lead and stopped suddenly after one of the drops when I saw a cow elk standing in the trail. Normally, when you see elk they bolt off into the forest and you don't get to see them long. This elk didn't move and I remembered it w... Read More

The Boy Who Cried Wolf My son, daughter and I have a favorite mountain biking loop in Farragut State Park. A couple of Summers ago we left the house close to dusk and headed to the trailhead. The trail loops around through the whole park from the South end up and around to the visitor's center and then back down through the middle to the original trailhead. We pass through an equestrian area, forest canopies, and territories of several bands of deer.Toward the beginning of the trail there is a grassy meadow surrounded by a forest of pines. My son had sped ahead on his bike as I hung back with his younger sister to make sure she could handle her new larger bike. When I felt she had it under control I sped up to catch my son who usually stops at a typical way point to let everyone catch up. As I entered the meadow I heard my son yelling and suddenly saw him running back to me. "Wolf, wolf, I just saw a wolf!"I immediately thought of the "Boy Who Cried Wolf" story but quickly realized he wasn't telling stori... Read More