More eastern Tennessee rewards

We targeted two potentially interesting destinations as we continued to scour eastern Tennessee for what it had to offer. The Devils Triangle and the town of Oak Ridge called out our names.

After US 129 and the Tail of the Dragon, I wanted to check out more of these historic mountain highways. The Devil’s Triangle is a 44 mile loop with some of the sharpest and steepest switchbacks you will ever experience. It is billed as being much more of a challenge than the Tail of the Dragon. We enjoyed exploring the Triangle, but found out that because it is not adjacent to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge and the Smoky Mountains, it does not seem to attract all the higher profile activity and attractions we experienced at the Tail.

I could see that this would be a really fun ride on a Harley, or anything on two wheels. But from a tourism viewpoint, the area is really depressed. The towns had little to offer other than boarded up and vacant buildings, and there were no real attractions to draw in crowds. Even though it was a weekend, we saw a total of only 30 Harleys on the Devil’s Triangle, compared with the many hundreds we experienced while driving the Tail of the Dragon. And we saw not a single stealth camera blind on the way. However, we really enjoyed the ride.

Oliver Springs is typical of the towns along the Devil’s Triangle, except that it may have had a few more buildings (abandoned of course) of substance than the other towns around. We had no idea why there was an RV park in Oliver Springs – we assumed it might have been the draw of the Triangle. We were wrong. Apparently this is a hot spot for off road ATV aficionados. It turns out we were actually lucky to be able to get a site.

Oak Ridge did not provide any entertainment. For all the reasons I mentioned before, Oak Ridge became the primary location for the Manhattan Project, established there on August 13, 1942. Apparently back in 1942 the town didn’t even show up on maps it was that top secret. I expected there to be something to remind folk of what may have been one of the most significant war effort in history, but I was wrong. Other than a few street names like Centrifuge Boulevard and such, and a museum dedicated to atomic science, there was really nothing to commemorate the Project here.

We did, however, stumble on a gem while doing the Triangle. When in Cataloochee Valley we picked up a National Park brochure for the Obed National Wild and Scenic River. Because of the preservation of the National Park Service, the Obed River valley is pretty much as it looked in the 1700’s when European settlers arrived. The National Park Service manages over 45 miles of natural bluffs along the Obed River, Clear Creek and Daddy Creek.

We hiked out to the Lilly Bluff. Lilly Bluff is one of the dozens of dedicated rock climbing areas available to users of the park. Also, at the base of Lilly Bluff is one of the many rapids that make up the challenging white water canoeing available in the park. Cataracts ranging from level 2 to level 4 rapids make this a haven for those who love to hit the white water.

Since we had extra time, we decided to hike out to The Point, a thin pinnacle high over the Obed River on one side and Clear Creek on the other. The Point is where the confluence of these bodies of water occurs.

This is the second time we hiked to the confluence of two rivers – the first time was to the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers in Canyonlands National Park. However, today’s hike was only 4 miles round trip to The Point, as opposed to the 26 miles round trip in Canyonlands!

We were really happy we stumbled upon this gem that we wouldn’t have otherwise known about.

 

Talk to you soon!