You hear people refer to four wheeling Blackhouse Mountain or Pickett State Forest. They are not to be confused with either Black Mountain In Tennessee or Kentucky. It is an area in Pickett County TN and Wayne County Kentucky. Usually folks access it from Blackhouse Mountain Road in Tennessee and head north into Kentucky. Over the years the trails became extremely eroded. It was deeply rutted having become one mud hole after another. Finally TWRA had enough and gated off the damaged parts. The area was also opened to logging. Originally they said it would reopen once logging was over. The final outcome has been for them to repair the damage , and modify the access and usage permanently.
I am going to clear up the access confusion here and try to put all rumors to rest.
Below I have included the excerpt that speaks to the current situation at Pickett State Forest. It is because often the state run websites are down.
Changes to Designated Use Areas:
February 2025 - An updated Pickett State Forest Recreation Use map shows a total of 14.5 miles of hiking trails designated for foot traffic only, 18.2 miles of non-motorized use on unpaved roads (hiking, biking, horseback riding), and 34.7 miles of motorized use paved and unpaved roads.
In addition, two unpaved roads (Yellow Doors Road, Redmond Rim Road) have been newly designated as seasonal motorized use roads. This will minimize future damage to these roads by removing vehicles from them roads during the seasons that receive the most rain while continuing to allow access during drier months. They will be open to motorized traffic from March 15 through December 20.
Finally, gates have been installed at the northern forest boundary to block entry to Kentucky via Redmond Mountain Road and Carpenter Rockhouse Road.
Designated motorized use roads in the northwestern portion of the forest are accessible from by veering left at the Redmond Mountain Road/Store 14 Road split. Roads and trails in this area of the forest have the following designated usage.
Redmond Mountain Road (before Carpenter Rockhouse Split): Motorized Use Allowed
Yellow Doors Road: Seasonal Limited Access for Motorized Use (Closed Dec. 20 to Mar. 15)
Redmond Rim Road: Seasonal Limited Access for Motorized Use (Closed Dec. 20 to Mar. 15)
Oil Well Road: Non-Motorized Use Only
Jim Spike Bluff Road: Non-Motorized Use Only
Three Corners Ridge Road: Non-Motorized Use Only
Redmond Cable Road: Non-Motorized Use Only
Carpenter Rockhouse Road: Non-Motorized Use Only
Redmond Mountain Road (After Carpenter Rockhouse Split): Non-Motorized Use Only
Kenny pointed out something I had not considered before. People were using the roads on the Tennessee side to access the Kentucky side. Tearing up the roads on the Tennessee side to get there in the process. It is now no longer possible to ride from this area into Kentucky, and that is not going to change EVER.
You can still access Mineral Lake, Wow Overlook, Yellow Doors Overlook in Tennessee. The rest is gated off and is going to remain that way. To reach the stuff on the Kentucky side you have to either travel on foot or go round into Kentucky to reach the trails and land forms. The seasonal closures occur during the time of year we get the most rain. Keeping OHVs and motorized traffic off them during this time of year will cut down on the erosion problems.
Things you cannot access from TN anymore unless you're on foot:
Carpenters Rockhouse
Carpenters Arch
Car Hauler
Tea Cup
Storybook Cliff
Granny's Crack
Split Rock Pass
Buck Hill Overlook
Hall Hollow Arch
I am NOT including directions how to access the features from Kentucky. We did it, but I am fairly certain the way we went is private land. Based on what I saw the situation will certainly change soon.
Riding the Kentucky Side to Land Forms on Labor Day
Our friend Rick is a golf pro so in Summer his weekends are usually spoken for. We wanted to get together with Rick and Sharon for a day of four wheeling and fellowship. He was off Labor Day. He'd been wanting to ride Blackhouse Mountain and learn about it. I was curious as to whether it was still possible to access the features we had in the past via the Kentucky side? The access to Kentucky from Tennessee has been permanently eliminated. We talked to them and it was decided we'd try to find out. I sat down in the living room and began looking. I found the way in! I shared it with Kenny and he agreed that had to be it. Next we had to find a reasonable place to park two trucks and trailers. We found the spot and that settled it. We'd go get up with them and see for ourselves.
We met them Monday morning in the Jamestown Wal-Mart parking lot and headed north toward Kentucky. We parked and unloaded and set off. The access was fairly close to the parking spot. We could see we were far from the only ones doing this. The day was a nice temperature with blue skies. The sound of crickets singing and the sight of leaves turning yellow and brown indicated Summer's end.
I plugged in the waypoints for Granny's Crack into the GPS and we headed in that direction.
We had visited it once many years ago. I also wanted to find a second area landform called Giant Fireplace. Today was to prove I was no Mervin Wood! 😁 It had only been one visit nearly a decade ago so most of it was forgotten. The forest was pretty and the trail was not too bad.
We approached it and before long we were looking at a patch of sandstone rock which the trail crossed. I told Kenny to stop once he was across. I knew this was it! Kenny let me out and continued on the trail to a spot below the arch. He thought he could come in that way. I knew better so I walked back across it to a path that led down. Once I dropped down I was able to walk right to the entrance. He eventually gave up and came back. Sometimes he forgets how things go and sometimes I do.
above: Fall colors are just beginning in Wayne County Kentucky and Fentress County TN.
above: hill climb heading to Granny's Crack. I didn't remember this from before!
Below: Otey crosses the top of Granny's Crack. It is a low arch/cave.
Below: This is Granny's Crack... a low arch cave. There is a crack in the ceiling that led to the name.
above: a closer look at the crack
below: Rich, Sharon and Kenny are checking things out.
We enjoyed seeing Granny's Crack. It is a cool place. The dogs liked it a bunch! They were glad to be out of the machine and run around.
Below is a video of Granny's Crack The video shows the hill climb as well.
We finally loaded back up and continued our trip. We had to reverse course and on the way tried half heartedly to find Giant Fireplace. We did not see it. We decided we'd try again later on our return trip. The next portion was boring and aggravating. We had never come in this way before and had no idea what we were in for. It was as bad as the old days of mudholes coming in from the Pickett side of things. One mud hole after another. Work arounds of work arounds. It was dull and slow going trying to get anywhere with that type terrain. The scenery was not spectacular. I was discouraged. Finally we stopped to take a break and decide what was next. It was clear to us that trying to get all the way across to the old land features of previous trips was going to be more time consuming than we'd expected.
We ate lunch and stretched our legs and decided to head to Hall Hollow Arch next.
We stayed on the struggle bus awhile longer, but finally the terrain and trail improved. We managed to avoid some additional mistakes. I was still not thrilled with the day. It is partially the time of year. It isn't Fall yet and it is dry. You have to get creative this time of year to find interesting trips to take. We came to a choke point on the trail and met another large group of riders. They ended up having to back down the trail to allow us to pass. They were very nice people. We stopped and got out to see Hall Hollow Arch. No water was running today. It has a wet weather waterfall and an underground stream in a cave. Not today! It was impressive due to its size, but when you have seen how it is in Spring with water it is tough to take.
above: Hall Hollow Arch. It is in Wayne County Kentucky.
We had a chance to talk to some fellow riders and found that folks are still visiting this arch and have access to all the trails on the Kentucky side. That may change, but right now once you are into Kentucky it is open. All of it.
Below is a video of Hall Hollow Arch
Next we moved past Hall Hollow Arch and continued to a feature called Split Rock Pass on Lifetime Maps. Mervin says it is Twin Rocks or chimneys, but I am going with what I first saw. He's probably correct because Lifetime Maps often gets things wrong. They put names on there according to whatever person added them to the maps knows to call it. Hall Hollow Arch is listed as Arch Rock for example and I know that is wrong. The trail conditions improved a good bit.
We came to the top of a hill at a mountain gap. We encountered a large group of riders there taking a break with their dogs. We stopped to enjoy the scenery and visit with them. Kenny got some really good info from them.
They let us know about an overlook we'd missed
They didn't know anything about Giant Fireplace
They let us know that the Kentucky side for now is all accessible.
They also told us to be sure to check out Split Rock Pass as it is a neat place.
The photo below shows what the trail looked like up here along this ridge line. It was very pretty.
We ambled along the ridge trail and kept moving in the direction of the pass. The trail got prettier, cooler and more shady as we approached. It was a fascinating spot. The trail goes right between two massive rock formations! The stone is some sort of conglomerate which is full of tiny quartz pebbles worn down by time and liesegang rings. Liesegang rings form what a super saturated form of iron oxide is dissolved and the solution settles forming these concentric rings. Later the sandstone wears away and reveals them. We saw something high in the bluff that we thought might be fossilized logs.
Those are typically vertical but I guess they could be horizontal. They were high in the bluff meaning they were probably newer. I checked with friends and thankfully Boyd Hopkins recognized they were another presentation of liesegang rings. I had never seen the bluff eroded to reveal them in three dimensions before! Very cool.
Below is an internet photo of the formation of liesegang phenomena in a lab solution.
Below is a look at Split Rock Pass. It is interesting and you'd miss a lot by not stopping, getting out and inspecting the area rocks.
Below: a look at the top of one of the rocks. You can start to see Fall colors in the shrub layer!
above: a closer look at some large liesegang rings in the outer rock.
Below: Click on the image to enlarge it to get a closer, better look at the "logs" which turned out to be liesegang bands. They are exposed not just as rings, but tubes!
Below: a look at the top of the outer chimney rock. It is pretty against the blue sky. I like the texture of it.
Below: I loved how this photo shows the perfect diamond shaped hole in this stone wall. It is deeply pock marked and you can see quartz pearls all through out its surface.
Below is a video of Split Rock Pass that shows it far better than a photo can.
We finally had enough gawking at Split Rock so we loaded up and proceeded. We next came to an archette I'll call it. It is a cup handle type formation. It was really cool.
Below: a quick snap shot of the cup handle archette from the window
We continued and came to a huge rock shelter. It was on the left. We stopped to check it out. It was so cool and shady here. The day had grown hot. It was fortunate we stopped because we encountered another large group of riders. The wide trail here permitted them to pass us easily.
above: the rock overhang we saw
Below: the same rock shelter from deep inside it near the back!
We continued from the rock house to a point the larger group of riders described as an extremely rough trail to an overlook and a slightly easier by pass trail. Kenny took the by pass trail and we came out at a gravel road. It looked a bit like the one we saw at the start of the day. We'd closed a loop!
Below is a photo of the road that perfectly illustrates September and the shift from Summer to Fall.
It reminds me each year of one of my favorite Robert Frost poems.
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Robert Frost
We went back to the task of trying to pin point Giant Fireplace. We tried several trails and kept coming up against steep bluffs or drop offs. Finally in frustration we left off trying to find it.
We went instead to the overlook which was right by us. It turned out to be a highlight of the day.
The folks we encountered called it Buck Hill Overlook. That may be right, but no map I have run across shows it as a named feature. No matter. It was spectacular today! Blue skies. Puffy clouds. Sunshine and green hills rolling ever onward.
above: Go Pro photo of the Buck Hill Overlook was stunning. It gave it the fish eye lens look.
Below: a look to the right of the overlook with all that pale sandstone.
It was hot and we were running out of energy and water so we headed back to the trucks at last.
I did snap a photo of the late Summer wildflowers before leaving.
Below: I think this pretty cluster of yellow flowers is camphorweed
Below is a video of Buck Hill Overlook
We made it back to the trucks. Poppy hit the fool button as puppies will do and got out in the road scaring us all silly. I grabbed her collar and got her out of the road. Whew!
They were good dogs today and that was the only moment of yikes all day!
We headed back to Sharon's where we got showered up and had appetizers and drinks before enjoying a nice supper together! It was a marvelous day with friends. It ended on a far better note than it began. What started off as a blah ride turned special after all!
Back home in Murvul we did some checking on things and found out a couple important items.
It wasn't really that far over to the features we wanted to see. It just seemed like it because of the bad trail and continual work arounds. In reality it is only between three to five miles depending on what you're heading toward.
We passed right by Giant Fireplace which Kenny later realized and Mervin pointed out.
It shows me that Mervin is a hoss among men when it comes to finding land features! Especially arches which can be tricky! We will have to go back and try try again!
In preparing the directions page I learned that my Yellow Doors Overlook photos and video have gotten away from me. Just a reason to go back as soon as possible!
I hope this blog article and directions will prove useful to others.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for reading and commenting. I enjoy hearing from those who read & make use of my blog. I have made some wonderful friendships through emails from readers. I respond to all comments and emails. I appreciate folks reaching out to let me know when my blog entries are not functioning correctly or if the situation somewhere has changed. Many Blessings to you! Dana 🐝
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for reading and commenting. I enjoy hearing from those who read & make use of my blog. I have made some wonderful friendships through emails from readers. I respond to all comments and emails. I appreciate folks reaching out to let me know when my blog entries are not functioning correctly or if the situation somewhere has changed. Many Blessings to you!
Dana 🐝