Biking in Kingsport

I had checked out bike trails in the area and recommended we bike the Kingsport Greenbelt because the reviews were good and it was supposed to be a level, paved, bike trail and in the sunshine a lot.  We drove to the trailhead at the end of the Greenbelt on Orebank Road in the suburbs of Kingsport and unloaded the bikes.

We quickly discovered that the first half mile of the trail was downhill, gravel, rocky, rutty, and in the shade.  We coasted downhill for about all of that half mile which meant we would be biking back up that gravel, rocky, rutty, trail back to the car at the end of the bike ride.  The trail remained fairly hilly for about another mile but at least it was paved.

After our last hill, the trail leveled out and followed along a creek.

And we finally hit some sunshine too.

There were a lot of ducks along part of the creek that were being well fed by a local resident.

There were signs later on encouraging people to feed the waterfowl.  Normally, we see big signs saying "DON'T FEED THE BIRDS!"

The trail continued threw Kingsport along the creek...

...and through well-to-do neighborhoods and not so well-to-do.  As we rode through the city, we rode by a big hospital, Holston Valley Medical Center, and the Domtar Paper Company.

As we headed back out of town, we rode on a section of the Greenbelt that hadn't even opened "officially" yet.

We rode by an exhibit of an old flatboat like what would have been used in the late 1700's and early 1800's for transporting salt, iron, furs, and many other items needed for the developing country.

We rode out through the park and then on to the very end where the north fork and the south fork of the Holston River meet.

We parked our bikes and walked out on the barrier...

...and met Rack Cross who is a planner for the City of Kingsport and avid birdwatcher.  While we were standing there talking to him he would point out different birds flying around and what they were.  He asked us how we liked the bike trail and we told him we really enjoyed it.  He was a great advocate for his city and told us about different things we should check out.

He told us that he usually sees a group of otters when he's out here birdwatching and right before we left, the otters showed up.

We got back on our bikes and rode back to where the Netherland Inn was located.

The Netherland was built between 1802 and 1808 and was a stop along the route from Washington Ctiy and Nashboro.  The Inn also hosted many famous Presidents including the three Presidents from Tennessee:  Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson and James K. Polk.

Behind the inn is the cabin that Daniel Boone was believed to have lived in between 1773 and 1775.  The cabin is not original to the site but was moved from Daniel Boone's Wilderness Trail in Virginia.

The cabin was not open but I took this picture through the window.

By now, it was about 2 pm and we were all ready for lunch.  We found a nice picnic table in the park and enjoyed our picnic lunch by the river.

We also walked across the swinging bridge that crossed the Holston River over to Kingsport's Long Island.

View of the Holston River from the swinging bridge.

We began our bike ride back only stopping once to get a drink of water.

We reached the last half mile of the trail and began peddling up that steep, rocky, bumpy hill.  Chuck was the only one who made it all the way to the top with out walking his bike.  What a man!

On our way back to the campground, we treated ourselves to a well-deserved cone of ice cream at McDonalds.  The weather was so nice that we sat outside again until the sun set and the temps began to cool.

We played a game of Pinochle later but the men won this time.  Tomorrow, we head towards middle Tennessee stopping in Crossville for a couple of nights before heading back to our "hometown" of Nashville.