Cumberland Mountain State Park, Tennessee - November 15th to 16th, 2021

It was time to start heading west towards our home in Colorado. We wanted to make it back in time to spend Thanksgiving with our kids. We made several stops on the way back to break up the drive. Our first stop was Cumberland Mountain State Park in Tennessee.

Monday was a long day of driving, from Cary, North Carolina to Cumberland Mountain State Park. To make it even longer, we wanted to dip down into South Carolina as we’re not sure we’ve ever been to that state before. According to our own self-imposed rules, we have to make a financial transaction in the state in order to claim we’ve visited it. Just driving through doesn’t count. So, in addition to buying gas in South Carolina, we stopped at a Cook Out restaurant in Spartanburg. From what we could tell, Cook Out looks like a popular fast food chain in the area.

When we pulled into the parking lot, we saw a sign that said their dining room was closed, but the drive through was open. Oh no! Our van normally doesn’t fit in drive throughs. As we stood there contemplating what to do, a couple of employees were arriving for work. They did not know what the height restriction was for their drive through window, but they pointed out the walk up window on the side of the building, near the front door. Oh, thanks! We didn’t see that before. Perfect! Well, almost perfect. That meant we didn’t have a restroom to use. However, we made it to the next rest area down the highway with no problems.

It was cool outside, but sunny. So sitting at the outside tables at Cook Out to eat our lunch was possible. After we finished our burgers, we headed up to the window to buy milkshakes to go. They have 43 different shake flavors to choose from. And what did we pick? Some rather ordinary flavors, double chocolate and chocolate malt. The shakes were good, but.a little too thick. Since we were consuming while we were traveling down the road, we wanted to just use a straw and not take off the lids to use a spoon. It gave our cheek muscles a work out to suck those thick shakes through a narrow straw. RB even thought she was developing a blister on her tongue. The views as we crossed over the Smoky Mountains were nice. Most of the leaves were off the trees and the few remaining leaves were varying shades of brown. The scenery was still beautiful although not as spectacular as it would have been at peak fall color. It was time to start making our way back home.

Since we started our drive early in the morning and we gained an hour by crossing into the Central Time Zone, we managed to reach our camp site before the sun set. In fact, we were able to cook our dinner outside on the picnic table before it got dark.

Cumberland Mountain State Park was a pleasant surprise. The campground itself has wonderful amenities, full and partial hookups, wifi, heated restrooms with flush toilets and showers. The park provides a variety of activities, a golf course, a swimming pool (in season), cabins, a restaurant, and a CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) museum. Byrd Lake, inside the park, is a small lake where people can fish or rent a row boat or pedal boat (in season). There are also quite a few miles of hiking and mountain biking trails.

Tuesday morning, we wandered around to check out the park. An aviary houses a handful of rescued owls and a hawk. An old mill constructed by the CCC sits near the dam, next to Byrd Creek. The mill never went into operation and the building is now used as a lodge for guests. We found the CCC museum interesting and pretty impressive for a small state park.

After lunch, we strolled along the Byrd Lake and Pioneer Short Loop Trails which encircle the lake. The Byrd Lake Trail is ADA accessible and crosses over the lake on a pretty wooden bridge. The Pioneer Short Loop Trail continues further upstream on a narrow dirt path through the woods along the bank of the swollen creek. At the far end, the trail crosses the creek over a swinging suspension bridge. The full path we took was almost four miles long, but mostly flat. At our leisurely pace, it took us almost two hours to complete.

When we returned to our campsite, the sun was starting to poke out from behind the clouds. The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging at our camp site and watching the woodpeckers in the nearby trees.

Cumberland Mountain was a wonderful break from driving. We were able to relax and stretch our legs in a wonderful surrounding. Time to head west some more. Our next planned stop was St. Charles in Missouri.

Check out our related video: Cumberland Mountain State Park, Tennessee

(RB)