Location: Big South Fork National Recreation Area, on the Kentucky-Tennessee border near Jamestown, TN
Access: From TN-52 x US127 in Jamestown, TN, head north on US127 1.6 miles, then turn right on TN-154 and continue 10.8 miles to the Divide Rd (this turn is 1.9 miles N of the intersection with TN-297). Head east 3.9 miles on the Divide Rd, then turn right onto the Twin Arches Rd and continue 2.1 miles to the TH.
Maps:
Trail: There’s a 1-mile loop clockwise that heads from the trailhead to the base of the arches, then up stairs to above the arches for a return trip that takes you over one of the arches. There’s lots to see and explore on this route, so the short distance doesn’t mean it’s a quick trip. This loop intersects the larger Twin-Arches Loop, which is 3.8 miles, and is terrifically scenic, especially on the northern edge of the loop as it passes the sandstone bluffs and alcoves. From Jake’s Place at the farthest point from the TH, you can take a side trip to Slave Falls, 1.7-miles one-way. A hike encompassing both loops and the trip to Slave Falls will net you 8.2 miles and about 560’ net elevation change, and require about 5.5 hours. This is what we did.
Fees: None
Weather: National Weather Service forecast

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It’s rainy, drizzly and cool, with a temperature hovering in the mid-50’s. Not so bad, really, after a week of upper 80’s. We cruise along Hwy 154 with the wipers on medium, wiping away the accumulating drizzle from the grey sky above.  In less than a month, we’ll be moving from Tennessee back to Wyoming, and the list of Tennessee hikes, compiled from guidebooks, recommendations from friends and internet browsing that I’d planned on having years to complete has suddenly become very urgent. Big South Fork has been on that list nearly since I moved here, and so with this rare day that offers both a babysitter (Karen) and no work duties, we decide to head north and check it out. 

There are lots of places to hike in the Big South Fork National Recreation Area, and I can’t even hope to do more than scratch the surface with this trip. I pick out one of the closer hikes that sounds interesting, and we arrive at the trailhead around 10:30, just Andra and I. There are only a few other cars in the lot, whether due to inclement weather or a lack of popularity, I don’t know. But once we get on the trail, we see only 6 people in the next 6 hours. 

The trail is obvious enough, and lined with pink and white-blooming rhododendrons, with a canopy of the usual Tennessee hardwood cadre: tuliptrees, hickories, red oaks, white oaks and, in special abundance in this area, sourwood, blackgum, sassafrass, blackgum and bigleaf magnolia. The bigleaf magnolia are awesome, and I’ve never seen them as big as they grow here, reaching heights of 40 feet, with leaves 2 feet long. Near the beginning of the trail, just off of it in fact, we spot a small American chestnut tree, still hanging on from a root system intact after decades of blight. 

We hike on down, taking a clockwise approach at the first junction, and descend very steep stairs to the dark, wet forest below. In short order, we are at the north arch, admiring it, watching it, walking under it. The arch is huge, and seems like a piece of Utah plunked down in the Cumberland Plateau. Very unusual. There’s a set of stairs that run up the far side of the arch, and we take them, walking up on top over the arch, looking down on the forest below, and then continuing on to a series of steps that leads back to the parking lot. We’re not ready for that yet, so we head the other way, over the south arch and up to the summit above the arch, where a fine view of unbroken forest undulates before us to the horizon where it meets the grey sky. 

We descend back down the steps to the area below the arches, and explore the south arch, which is more open and broader in width than the northern arch. To the west of the arch there is a dark crevice that I approach, though it appears to go nowhere. I am about to turn back when I spot a glow of light from within and, approaching closer, see that this is in fact a narrow tunnel that leads 30 feet through to the other side. I call to Andra, and we both take the dark route, finding the walls inside completely obscured by darkness. On the other side, we tarry but a minute, and I return via the tunnel while Andra walks around the west side of the open rock. 

We return to the trail junction beneath the north arch, and head towards Jake’s Place. The next hour of hiking is some of the most pleasant hiking I’ve found in Tennessee. Splendid high walls of pocked sandstone, varying in height from 20 to 100 feet, draped with vines and veiled by the delicate leaves of giant hemlocks, line the right side of the trail as it weaves through the forest, sidling up now and again to the rock walls, and under alcoves where trees grow stunted under the rock cap above, and water drips down through fissures and faults in the rock. Waist-high cinnamon ferns line parts of the trail. It’s a damp, humid forest that puts me in a mind that we’re in coastal Washington.
 In one such large alcove a tuliptree has grown up 60 feet and been blunted by the ceiling of the alcove. Water drips down from myriad springs, and the air is still and quiet. It’s a very wonderful segment. 

We reach the open meadow of Jake’s Place, and notice the heady aroma of wild roses, smelling something like citronella, but sweeter. In the humid air, the scent carries far. We head through the trees towards Slave Falls, on a trail that is gumbo mud, sticky and deep. Some portions of the route have wooden planks across them to elevate hikers out of the mud, but most of the time we are slogging through sticky muck. The route follows a beautiful small stream through thick, dark forest with tree trunks coated in moss. Coleus completely carpets sections of the area, resulting in brilliant green on the forest floor, where typically there is mostly the brown of fallen leaves. 

Slave Falls is a thin, completely free-falling stream of water that drops from the roof of a vast alcove, and is thus far removed from the nearest cliff wall. I couldn’t find a definitive height, but it appears to be around 60’ high. A light drizzle started just as we arrived at the waterfall, so Andra and I walk up under the alcove to the north and stake out a relatively dry spot to eat lunch and watch the water pour down. 

Chilled from sitting, we hit the trail and briskly walk downstream back to Jake’s Place. At the trail junction, we take a right turn, and continue on the Twin Arch Loop through more lush forest to Charit Creek Hostel, which appears to be closed yet for the season. We head uphill through the woods, gaining elevation rapidly on round-log steps that are slick with the mist that comes and goes. Gore-Tex boots are terrible on wet wood, and we both slip several times on the steps. 

Reaching the arches, we find the small tunnel under the steps that lead to the top of the arches, each of us going through from opposite directions before returning the stairs and reaching the point above the arches. From there we complete the loop to the parking lot by heading up the stairs. Just as we reach the car, real rain sets in, and I jump in the car quickly after changing my damp shirt. What timing!
 

Slave Falls




Choleus carpet of green
 


Green, green everywhere
 

Like walking in a terrarium
 

Under the North Arch
 

A sea of chestnut oaks stretches east
 

Andra on top of the South Arch
 

Crevice near the South Arch
 

South Arch
 

South Arch
 

South Arch
 

North Arch
 




Tuliptree in an alcove