Agile Trekker: Norris Dam State Park, TN

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
10/12/2025	4.2 miles	2 hours 40 minutes	589'	1.7 mph	298.4

Parking:

CCC Cabin #6

Map:

Norris_Dam_web.png (3300×2550)

Directions:

Follow the road from our cabin down to cabin #8. Take the Hi Point Trail. Turn left onto the Lake View Trail and descend steeply downhill. Where the trail splits, keep right, with the lake on your left. Turn right onto the Scenic Cove Trail. Turn right onto the Hi Point Trail. Turn right again to stay on the Hi Point Trail. Pass the High Point (1,440 feet) and stay at the Hi Point Park Trail. Turn left onto the Camp Sam Trail, then right, then left onto the Hi Point Park Trail which brings you back to cabin #8. Follow the paved loop trail to the right (counterclockwise). Turn right at the next road intersection to the Norris Dam Playground parking lot. Take the Tall Timber Trail. Turn right onto the Christmas Fern Trail. Take a left onto the Lakeside Trail. Keep straight on the Tall Timber Trail and return to the Playground parking lot. Turn left onto the road, left again, and then right on the loop to return to cabin #6.

We decided to take a last-minute mini vacation in Tennessee. We stayed at Norris Dam State Park in a Civilian Conservation Corps built cabin. We've stayed at a cabin before at a different TN state park and loved the experience. The parks that have cabins, always have a few dog friendly ones. We could only get a cabin for 3 nights in a row, because the dog friendly ones were booked. But when we got there, we found very few people staying in the cabins. The park was very quiet and peaceful, which is exactly what we were looking for. This park is only 2 1/2 hours away from Asheville (well, maybe more given the construction traffic on I-40). Our cabin was tiny - one room, but it had heat/AC and a kitchen. Some of the cabins are bigger - we in particular loved cabin #8 due to its location, but it isn't a pet friendly one. This was the perfect time of year to visit. TN is too hot in the summer, but we had gorgeous weather for our trip.

After checking in at the visitor center, we unloaded our car. The park is divided into two parts - the west side and the east side, with the dam in the middle. The CCC cabins are on the east side. We went on a hike from our cabin. Bonus - no driving to a trailhead. I'm having a lot of hip pain, so we just take it slowly. There were many acorns on the trail - very slippery at times to walk on. We came up with a route that would take us by the lake - but ack - we never got close enough to the lake to let Krumm swim! There was a steep staircase down to the water on the Christmas Fern Trail (no shore, just the stairs going into the water), but it looked like a steep drop off at the end, which Krumm doesn't like. So, no swimming for him today, even though this park is on a lake! We ran into a black rat snake - Krumm jumped away from it. Good dog. We didn't encounter any people on our hike.

There are a few museums close by and a local brewery, none of which we ended up visiting.

Photos in reverse order