Why this park
Cumberland Trail State Park is less a place than a footpath. It follows the Cumberland Plateau's eastern rim, and the ridges of the Cumberland Mountains, from Tri-State Peak, at Cumberland Gap, where Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia meet, to Signal Point, above the Tennessee River near Chattanooga. Finished, it will run more than 300 miles, through eleven counties and across two time zones. The Tennessee Encyclopedia calls it the state's only linear park.
What makes it worth drawing is the edge itself: sandstone bluffs, and the gorges creeks have cut back into the plateau. At Laurel-Snow, near Dayton, Laurel Falls drops 80 feet. North of Chattanooga, the Rock Creek, Possum Creek and Soddy Creek gorges make up the Three Gorges, over 30 miles of unbroken trail.
The story
The Friends of the Cumberland Trail say that in the late 1960s Mack Prichard, then the state parks' naturalist, drew up a statewide network of trails, and the young Tennessee Trails Association, which he had helped start, took up the Cumberland as its pilot. The park's page names Bob Brown, Evan Means and Sam Powell beside him. In 1971 Governor Winfield Dunn signed a state trails law, and the Cumberland became a state scenic trail.
Building went slowly. Hikers formed the Cumberland Trail Conference, in 1994 by its own account, to raise money and run volunteer crews. In June 1998 the state made the trail its 53rd state park. In 2002 the park took the name of Justin P. Wilson, then deputy governor, who had helped win early state and federal support.
Volunteer crews have built most of it, from hiking clubs to college students on spring break, with help from AmeriCorps and the Tennessee National Guard. One student crew named the Obed section the "trail of a thousand steps." In 2026 the Conference renamed itself the Cumberland Trail Conservancy.
Land was the harder part. As the paper company Bowater sold off its Tennessee timberland in the mid-2000s, the state acquired tracts along the route. Laurel-Snow, which Bowater had only leased, came in two steps: the lease in 2008, the land, bought from its owners, in 2011. In 2010 the state added more than 3,200 acres on Graysville Mountain, partly with money the Conference raised; by then, the environment commissioner said, the park managed 23,000 acres, up from 1,200 in 2003. Lone Star, a 6,229-acre tract on Crab Orchard Mountain, followed in 2020. In September 2026 a $2.45 million deal secured roughly 350 acres at Devil's Racetrack, a rock formation above I-75.
The Friends' undated count is about 209 miles open of some 302. In 2021 the park's manager put the unbuilt remainder at about 40 miles; in December 2025 the state said designs were done for 36.1 more, to be built through 2026.
When to go, and what to wear
The trail's high point, by the Conservancy's count, is 3,060 feet on Cross Mountain, and the Laurel-Snow trailhead sits at 820. By NOAA's normals, at the Crossville airport, on the plateau about 1,870 feet up, July averages a high near 83°F and a low near 64°F, while Pikeville, in the Sequatchie Valley at about 860 feet, runs near 88°F and 67°F. In summer wear a light, breathable tee and carry plenty of water, or a filter for stream water.
Spring brings wildflowers and high water. April is Crossville's wettest month, with about 5.5 inches of rain, highs near 66°F and lows near 44°F. Creeks can rise suddenly and some sections ford streams, so wear boots that grip wet rock, and pack a rain shell.
October is the driest month at both stations, with Crossville highs near 68°F and lows near 45°F. Fall is hunting season: statewide, the 2026 deer muzzleloader season opens November 7, and gun season runs from November 21 to January 3, 2027. On North Cumberland WMA, everyone outside a vehicle or camp must wear fluorescent orange or pink by day during the gun and muzzleloader seasons for deer and elk. On Catoosa WMA, during its own deer, turkey and hog hunts, trail users must wear blaze orange or pink and stay within 100 feet of the trail. A blaze orange cap and vest will do.
January at Crossville averages a high near 44°F and a low near 26°F, so wear layers, a warm hat and gloves, and watch for ice on rock steps.
Know before you go
- Camping is only at designated hike-in backcountry sites, registered in advance. Laurel-Snow campers must be inside the gate before 7 p.m. or dark, and Catoosa WMA allows no backcountry camping.
- On managed hunt dates, in fall for deer and in spring for turkey, Prentice Cooper State Forest closes west of State Route 27 to all but licensed hunters. The Signal and Edwards Points section, east of the road, stays open.
- The park's trail list marks the North Cumberland WMA and North Chickamauga sections as partly closed, without dates, and a Friends alert dated November 4, 2023, still lists the stretch from Devil's Racetrack to Eagle Bluff as closed. All caves on park land are closed because of white-nose syndrome.
- Creeks in the gorges can flood fast and cell service is thin, so download maps and tell someone your route. The trail is for hikers only; dogs must be leashed.
- Hours, fees and closures change, so check Cumberland Trail State Park's page before you go.
Sources: Tennessee Encyclopedia, "Cumberland Trail State Park" and "Pocket Wilderness Areas" (Carroll Van West); Cumberland Trail Conservancy, "Our History," "About the Cumberland Trail Conservancy" and trail section pages; Friends of the Cumberland Trail, "Land, Culture, & History," "Camping Registration," "Trail Alerts and Hours" and "Trail Information & Recreation"; Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, news releases of January 12, 2010, February 24, 2020, and December 22, 2025; Pam Sohn, "Rhea County's Laurel-Snow State Natural Area to be rededicated," Chattanooga Times Free Press (May 5, 2012); The Nature Conservancy, "Partnership Secures Approximately 350 Acres for the Cumberland Trail" (September 23, 2026); National Park Service, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, "Overlooks"; Hannah Gillespie, "Celebrating Mack Prichard, A Tennessee Conservation Leader," Appalachian Voices (2020); Ben Pounds, "Cumberland Trail is nearing the end of its 50-year hike," Hellbender Press (2021); Blake Farmer, WPLN News (July 12, 2006, and July 31, 2007); Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, 2026–2027 Tennessee Fishing, Hunting & Trapping Guide; Tennessee Department of Agriculture, Division of Forestry, "Prentice Cooper State Forest"; NOAA, U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020, Crossville Memorial Airport and Pikeville stations; Wikipedia; Cumberland Trail State Park, tnstateparks.com.
