Reelfoot Lake

Since I first moved to Tennessee back in 91 I've heard tales of the majestic Reelfoot Lake. It's someplace that I've wanted to go to for years, but just never had the opportunity to do so. That changed over the recent MLK Jr. Holiday.

The wife and I are hiking enthusiasts. We've made it a habit to go hiking once a week. Usually we go to Meeman-Shelby. But we decided to do something "wacky" on our long weekend.

The drive up was pretty nice. We took Highway 51 up from Memphis to Dyersburg. When we hit Dyersburg is when the fun started. We got lost.

The signs pointing our way were a bit confusing and misplaced. Some signs seemingly pointed to nothing, but at the last minute the road would become visible and I'd have to veer over. We ended up wandering about several small towns and finally made our way back onto Hwy 51. We arrived at the lake around 3 hours after we left the house. It turns out that the ride up would be the best part of the trip.

The visitor center was okay. There were some interesting things up in their gallery and they had a small nature center where you could hold snakes. After using the facilities and taking a stroll through the swamp, we decided to tackle the Keystone Trail after our lunch.

After our feast of tuna salad and crackers and apples we headed to Keystone.

What we found left us in disappointment.

The Keystone Picnic area is nice. There's a rather newish shelter complete with bathrooms and several picnic tables set next to the lake. However, the trail itself is pitiful. There is no trail head marker, nor are there any markers on the trail in any form. It looked like the locals use it as their dumping ground. I saw all sorts of trash and even one spent shotgun shell.

We wandered through the muddy and stump laden path until it curved into the lake. We snapped a couple pictures and headed out.

The path is billed as Reelfoot's only lake side path. Though it went along the lake, you couldn't really tell. There was very little in ways of scenery. It was all very dreary and grey.

Maybe I messed up by going in the winter, but I can definitely say I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed that something that was supposed to be awesome was not and I'm disappointed in how State Parks are falling to pieces. We as citizens should support these parks and help them become something everyone can enjoy and be proud of.

Meeman-Shelby State Park

I've lived in Memphis since 2001 for a total of 5 years (I spent 5 years in Japan) and I have never until yesterday visited this nice state park. It's located roughly 17 miles north of Memphis but seems much further.

Since I am planning to climb Kilimanjaro in the summer of 2016 I need to get in shape as such I've decided to start regular hiking. Unfortunately there is little in the way of hiking in the Memphis area, except for Meeman-Shelby Park. It has 5 trails, only three of which are for hiking though. I chose the Woodland Trail as it is the shortest at 3 miles.

For most of the initial hike you are on top of a ridge overlooking a heavily wooded valley. The trail is mostly flat, but you go up and down a few steep hills. It's nothing too rigorous however. It's a pleasant and relatively easy hike. It took my buddy and I less than two hours to complete it (the map claims it takes 3 hours to hike the path). We even stopped for lunch.

The only bad thing about the trail was that it is poorly kept. We found at least 4 trees that had fallen onto the trail. One tree demolished a bridge. We had to climb the ruined bridge and over the tree to continue or take a bit of a dip. It's truly sad to see such a nice park with tons of potential fall into disrepair.

Overall the park is pretty nice. It makes for an easy and quick getaway from the hustle and bustle of Memphis. I look forward to hitting the Woodland Trail again and to exploring some of the other trails that the park has to offer.