Black Bear Resort

Lora and I headed to the Roan Mountain area for a three day getaway. We camped at the Black Bear Resort in Hampton Tennessee. Very nice place up on a mountain. Very clean and very nice owners. After we set up camp, off we went on our first hike right from the campground. We did the 3.5 mile Coon Den Falls loop. That night we just relaxed around camp.

The next morning we attempted to find the Doe River Gorge train tunnel. Almost but not quite. A bridge missing the floor stopped us. We headed up to Roan Mountain to see the flowers. We crossed the Balds and made it to the top of Grassy Ridge Bald before the rain set in. It hit us hard trying to find some shelter before we got washed away. We made our way back though thoroughly soaked. We drove up to the Rhododendron gardens and walked through enjoying the flowers. After that we drove down to Roan Mountain State park and hiked the Fred Behrend trail from the campground. We got wet AGAIN! We headed back to camp and got dinner cooked before it rained again.

The next morning before we headed out we tried to hike the Laurel Fork trail out of the Dennis Cove recreation area. We didn't make it very far before we came to the first river crossing which did have a cable to use but it was so high it wouldn't do us any good. We turned around and headed back.

We loaded up the trailer and headed out. On the way back we stopped at Sycamore Shoals State Park and toured it. Then we headed to Jonesborough, Tennessee's oldest city, and toured the downtown area. After that we headed to David Crockett State Park and toured it. Then we headed to Greeneville TN to tour the Andrew Johnson Homestead. On the way home we stopped just East of Knoxville to let the rush hour traffic clear and a very large storm pass.

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