On Tuesday, August 27, 2013, we took another Day Ride. Our destination was Fall Creek Falls in Van Buren County, just west of Pikeville, TN.

We left our home at 10:00 am, the skies were blue and it was a gorgeous day with a cool start. We wore our light weight jackets and half helmets.

We took Alcoa Highway to Topside Road and stopped at Weigel’s to gas up and get a cracker.

This short video is about the start of our trip.

From Topside, we took 321 over the Dam into Lenoir City.

Once in Lenoir City, we rode south on 11 through Philadelphia, Sweetwater, Niota and then into Athens.

In Athens, we took 30 west toward Decatur. After riding through Decatur, we stopped off on a bridge over the Tennessee River for a photo and a short video.

We continued on 30 west heading into Pikeville.

We rode through Pikeville and stayed on 30 west all the way into Fall Creek Falls State Park.

We followed the signs to Fall Creek Falls Restaurant which features a large buffet with several meat entries, salad and soup bar, and a dessert bar.

We both ordered the buffet, eating and sharing a good sampling of everything.

The food and service were both excellent! It’s a great eating destination.

And here is a short video where Jeff explains how to tell someone is wearing a park uniform:

After eating we walked briefly through the lobby and conference center.

Here is a short video where I describe our surroundings:

After leaving the Restaurant and Conference Center, we rode toward the Betty Dunn Nature Center and stopped for a few photos along the way.

We parked at the Nature Center, first looking at the gorge next to the Center. Fall Creek Falls State Park has multiple falls and viewing areas, but we really wanted to see the falls that the park was named after.

We decided to hike the 1.1 miles to see Fall Creek Falls. First, we had to traverse the suspension bridge.

It took us forty-five minutes to get to the Falls. Once there, we realized there is a parking area just off the Fall overlook! Here is a short video when we reached the Falls:

So if you head up to Fall Creek Falls and don’t want to take the hour and a half round trip hike from the Betty Dunn Nature Center to see the Fall Creek Falls, there is a parking area just off the Overlook about a mile away from the restaurant.

Here is a short video coming back into the Nature Center over the suspension bridge:

When we got back to our bikes, we both agreed that the hike was a nice exertion on this beautiful day. We were glad we did it!

Jeff talks about our trip home in this short video:

When we got back on the bikes, we rode out of the park and took 30 back toward Pikeville for a few miles. Then we took 101 north which took us way into Crossville.

We took a short break in a small church parking lot.

Then we got on 70 and rode back to Rockwood and then to Kingston where we took another break at the water front park.

In this final video, you can see how tired I was from the day’s ride:

We left Kingston and rode back through Oak Ridge and down Western Avenue to our home in North Knoxville.

We arrived home at 7:15 pm and our total ride was 262 miles. It was a long day but worth every minute! Put Fall Creek Falls on your must ride to list.

You can view the entire list of DAY RIDES by CLICKING HERE.