Car Camping Report: Piney Campground, Land Between the Lakes

Two days after I stepped off the trail in the Savage Gulf, we all headed northwest to Land Between the Lakes. Piney Campground, located on the Tennessee side of the national recreational area, offers convenient access to the Fort Henry Trails System, a network featuring over 30 miles of hiking trails in the southern portion of the park. The campground itself offers both paved and dirt hiking/biking trails, a swimming beach and an archery range. Situated on the shore of Kentucky Lake, the campround of course provides excellent opportunities for fishing and boating.

 



Trailhead at South Welcome Station

We hiked the 6.7-mile Bear Creek Loop on Wednesday. What a beautiful day for hiking! We saw a guy and his dog at the trailhead. He'd started out on the trail but knee problems had necessitated a return trip along the paved road. He would be the only hiker that we would see all day.

The Trail

After a late lunch, we hopped on our bikes for a tour of the 2-mile camp hike/bike trail. Slightly more than half the trail is paved; the remainder is a dirt and gravel loop that takes you right by the water's edge. This portion of the trail is more akin to mountain biking, offering the user more solitude and challenge (and fun). We typically encountered other hikers and bikers on the paved trail, but I always had the dirt loop to myself.

Thursday was our big hike. Hiking out of the campground along the Piney Trail, we took the Artillery Trail to the Telegraph Trail, where we stopped for lunch. The Volunteer Trail took us back south to the Piney, where we closed the 9.7-mile loop (including the 0.8-mile trek from the campsite to the trailhead). On the Volunteer, we came across two workers who maintain the trails at LBL. I had met them working at the junction of the Telegraph and North/South Connector trails last October. One of them had a great-grandmother who had lived in the area. Part of the chimney to her house still stands, as does the Magnolia tree she planted so many years ago. We all agreed it was great day for a hike before heading off in opposite directions.

   Lunch near the Telegraph Trail

Our final hike on Friday took us again along the Telegraph and around the Pickett Loop for a leisurely 3.8-mile stroll. The Pickett winds around the shoreline of Kentucky Lake, which is a flooded portion of the Tennessee River. While skipping rocks, we saw a tugboat and barge moving down the river. It wasn't particulary exciting, but it gave me the opportunity to test my camera's zoom feature. A little while later, we came across the great-grandmother's chimney and Magnolia tree.

The junior members of the unit must have been fairly exhausted after a cumulative total of 20.2 miles of hiking and several miles of biking, as both fell asleep in front of the fire Friday evening. Showing remorse, Saturday morning they tried to recreate what they'd missed out on the night before.

This was another enjoyable trip to LBL. We had good neighbors in the Virginia Loop, though there was one loud bunch in a nearby RV loop, who I believe everyone in the campground must've heard. Walking by their site the next day, we saw they were using a metal trash can instead of the complimentary fire pit and ring. Then Tara pointed out their Cheatham County plates. I just nodded, unsurprised.