Big Hill Pond State Park - Walking Tall 25K Trail Run

Race - Oct 16, 2021

Dogs Leashed

Features Birding · Fall Colors · Fishing · Lake · Spring · Views · Wildflowers · Wildlife

15.5 miles made up almost entirely of singletrack trail with only a little crushed gravel park road. The course features a fire tower to climb and a swamp boardwalk that is almost a half-mile across.

Restrooms are located at the campground and boat launch picnic pavilion.

This course begins on the road at the boat ramp and enters the woods by the visitor center. About a mile in you'll get your first view of the beautiful Travis McNatt Lake, crossing a finger of the lake on a boardwalk. You'll experience your first climb of may after the boardwalk and follow singletrack trails through beautiful hardwood forests until you come to the Big Hill Pond.

Take time to look across the cypress filled pond at the end of the parking area. You then move through a swampy area traveling south towards the railroad tracks and the beautiful Dogwood Loop that takes you past a flooded cypress swamp. After the 3 mile Dogwood Loop, you travel back north to the Dismal Swamp Boardwalk and climb to the 81 foot watch tower from there.

After climbing the tower, you'll make your way back to the lake and cross the levee and enjoy an invigorating climb back to the trails bordering the lake on the east side. You then cross back over the lake boardwalk and make your way to the north end of the lake and end your run or hike crossing two creeks and climbing back up an interesting hill to the campground. You then take the road back to your starting point.

Hardwood forest, Pines, Deer and Turkey

The history of the area comes from the local sheriff Buford Pusser, who is known for his virtual one-man war on moonshining, prostitution, gambling, and other vices along the Mississippi–Tennessee state line.