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Jones Mill mountain bike trail
Longhunter State Park
Managed by the State of Tennessee
Date walked: 9/22/2009

It finally quit raining long enough for me to take a short hike. This is primarily a bike trail that also allows hiking. The trail is nice and is well blazed with white and orange. The best I can figure out the short trail (2 miles) is white and the longer trail (4 miles) is orange. I ended up taking the short trail because I did not realize this distinction and it’s really not well defined on the Longhunter web site or the hiking map. I walked up the longer path a ways but I really was not sure about where the path went or whether it was part of the trail I was planning to take. Put another way I was worried about just how far I was going to walk and whether the trail would go somewhere or just end with a long hick back out ahead of me. I had left details that I would be back at a certain time and that only gave me a little time to explore so I didn’t want to get too far off. I honestly did not realize at that time that I was on the long trail. I thought I was on a there and back side trail. In retrospect I wish I had gone further but hey this is a short trail I can do it again another day. Anyway the path is fairly narrow in some sections and wider in others. The day I went out was fairly wet so one section of the path was flowing like a creek and I had to cross one creek without a bridge over it. Considering we had seen almost two weeks of rain I’d say at least on the short path you won’t ever see impassible water. I don’t think the water came over the treads of my boots. My feet were dry anyway. Of course my boots claim to be waterproof. I’ll go back again next time I think the chances of seeing few or no bikes is good and take the longer path now that I understand the path system. If you decide you want to try this one, and assuming I have figured this trail out, the trick is when it splits between the Jones Mill trail and Bald Knob you want to take Bald Knob. I walked maybe a half mile to a mile of Bald Knob but not knowing where it went or how long it was for sure I turned back. I don’t think I have seen it specifically called out on any of the maps but I believe it is the second loop of the Jones Mill trail shown on the map available at the visitor’s center.

http://www.tennessee.gov/environment/parks/LongHunter/#biking