We weren't sure which road to take out of Nashville, so looked on the map and found a large green space, usually signifying forest or protected park area, kinda in the direction of home, and decided to head that way--basically NW of Nashville.
If you've never heard of LBL-The Land Between the Lakes-don't feel bad, we hadn't either. We found 170,000 acres of perfect bike riding roads, wonderful campgrounds, gorgeous water and forest scenery, and very friendly people!
This 'island' is located in the northwestern corner of middle Tennessee and western Kentucky and dates back to before Civil War times. It's history is fascinating and made famous by General Grant taking the Confederate Fort Henry in 1862. The eastern 'lake' border is the Cumberland River or known as Lake Barkley and to the west, is the Tennessee River or Kentucky Lake. The US Forest Service manages the land as a National Recreation Area.
The road running n/s through the Recreation Area is called 'The Trace' and is about 50 miles in total distance and there are numerous e/w running paved and dirt roads. We camped 3 nights in 3 different campgrounds, one in the south, Piney Campground, one in the middle, Wranglers Campground and one in the north, Hillman Ferry and managed to get in 3 days or 100 miles of quite hilly bicycling.
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| beautiful biking roads |
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| Piney Campground |
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| welcome to Kentucky |
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| more beautiful biking roads |
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| Wrangler Campground characters! |
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| a camper in Wrangler campground had one of the most beautiful chocolate colored horses |
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| Kentucky Lake |
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| the end of the road, Barkley Lake |
What a find! The weather was perfect, the traffic was light and we had a most enjoyable visit to the Rec Area. So far, we've managed to ride our bikes in every state we've passed through, have met some fine folks and have seen some gorgeous countryside. We'll keep ya posted as to our next adventure...
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