Official Tennessee Thread

Congrats on your new Buckys #america

 

ey Y'all,

I'll be heading back to the east coast/ E. Tenn area with a Hiker Trailer just after the South East Overland Expo in Starke, Florida on March 3-5th.


Thinking maybe a stop in PF, or Johnson City.

Any suggestions?

 

Pigeon Forge is full of tourists, my personal hell. But take that however you will

What are you looking to do in the area? If you want dispersed camping I would recommend any of the surrounding national forests except the Smokies.

 

I'm doing what we call a Hands On Hiker Road Show, where instead of potential customers traveling all the way to Indiana or Colorado to see a trailer, we come to locations where there is interest. We have lots of interest on the coast in the Carolinas and in East Tenn.

Trying to hit centrally located areas so most people can swing by within a few hours, instead of an 8-10 hour drive, check out the Hiker and see if it would work for them.


I've hit PF already and have a relationship started with Uncle Lem's, but again it is super touristy, and so PACKED that it is hard to get eyeballs when set up on the side of the main drag, because the cars are just flying by.

There used to be an Off Grid store in Townsend that I was going to hit up, but it looks to be changing directions soon.

 

What about Windrock?

Set up in the main parking lot. Super high concentration of your target demographic. And if Windrock doesn't want promo in their lot just setup on Hwy 62, it's the primary corridor for Windrock traffic

 

thanks, only good thing from it is jobs in my eyes, other wise it’s just more tourons.

 

Agreed. They're very silly to me. I don't know how you deal with all those tourists. It's hell any time I'm required to visit that area

 

Thanks! I really appreciate the help.

 

Hey fellas. Midwesterner here, from WI. The family is planning a trip to Dollywood in August, and I know my brother and I are gonna need to get away from there and find some trails for a day. I can tell from the last few posts here that I'll be in a very touristy area, and that is my personal hell as well, even though I'll qualify as one of them. Help a wheeler out. Any suggestions on where we can have some fun but not get into too much trouble? (I'll still have to drive back home to WI.) Truck has an Ironman4x4 FCP lift and skid plates. I'm running 265/75/16 Firestone AT2s, hoping to have new and larger rubber on it before August.

 

My vote is windrock

 

Though it's on the other side of Knoxville, a 1:30 ride from Dollywood. I'll second Windrock. With 70K acres, there are trails for every skill level.

 

Go south through Gatlinburg across Newfound Gap (stop and see Clingman's Dome) into Cherokee, NC. Then head to I40 through Maggie Valley and go west on 40. Around 13 miles later, you'll literally turn off the interstate onto Hurricane Creek Rd. It's a fun moderate trail with a couple of water crossings. Head from there up to Max Patch and go up to see the views. Go back to the interstate and head west until you get to Foothills Parkway. Take that over to Cosby, then head into Gatlinburg from there and on back to Pigeon Forge.

Take another day and drive through Wears Valley over into Townsend and go see the abandoned Elkmont resort town go back the way you came and drive through Cade's Cove. There's a good gravel road, Rich Mountain Rd, that will lead you back to Townsend. Tuckaleechee Caverns in Townsend is pretty neat too.

Aside from the caverns, every bit of that is free too.

 

Sweet! Yeah, I spotted Windrock and was going to ask about it. @Dave41079 thanks for that insider/local info! I will definitely bookmark this and come back to map it out as we get closer to August.

I appreciate the responses. If you guys get up into Wisconsin, be sure to drop us a line in the Midwest threads. I've only been modding my truck and wheeling for about a year, but I've learned a lot from the guys in the regional thread and have had some good times camping and BS'ing with them on our outings.

 

Yeah without a local showing you around Windrock is a solid choice for actual wheeling. If you're a mallcrawler there are hundreds of miles of fireroad throughout the Smokies and Cherokee National Forest also.

Last I heard this trail was closed. Is it back open for access?

 

I haven't been there in a while, so it may very well be.

 

Max patch I believe is closed but hurricane creek is still open. Richland road up by blowing rock in NC is closed though.

 

BAMF Mid Height Bed Rack with fresh paint located in Knoxville. $400

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/bamf-05-15-bed-rack-knoxville-tn.794704/

 

A few of the Georgia guys and some people on a FB page are heading up to AOP March 31-2 if anybody would care to join up!

Also I know Nashville is a whole mess, but I'm going for my birthday in a few weeks since I've never been. Looking for some recommendations of bars, restaurants and things to do. I trust you locals more compared to the internets suggestions.

 

Posted this in the BST thread but doesn’t seem to be a lot of activity there.

Anyway, I have set of third gen leaf springs with Wheelers 1.5 inch aal installed. Approximately 5K miles on them according to the previous owner. FREE

Knoxville area

 

Relocating from Eastern, NC to Surgoinsville in a few months. Anyone in the area? Gonna need some new Toyota friends!