POGUE CREEK CANYON STATE NATURAL AREA

Pogue Creek Canyon State Natural Area is a Tennessee hidden gem. Located in Jamestown, it is about 2.5 hours from Nashville. It was a rainy Saturday morning, but we decided to head out and go for it anyways - I am so glad we did! When you first arrive to the parking lot, there is an Astronomy field on one side and a trail that leads to the forest entrance on the other.

Pretty much from the first step into the forest, it’s magical. You’ll walk by walls of rocks, sandstones, and jungle-like vegetation.

The first main attraction you’ll come to is the Turkey Roost Rockhouse. It is a sandstone rock inlet that provides an overlook of the forest floor.

Shortly after passing through the Rockhouse, you’ll come to a sign that points either direction. It’s a loop! - So you can choose either way. We went to the right. If you choose to go to the right, you’ll first come to a little waterfall. It is such a peaceful spot.

As you hike along, search for mushrooms! There are so many awesome little shrooms around! Eventually, you’ll come to the overlook sign. The tree line opens up, and you will be on top of the canyon.

The overlook is breathtaking. We were lucky enough that it stopped raining right before we reached the top. We were the only ones at the overlook the entire time we were there. It was peaceful, quiet, and amazingly beautiful.

On the way back out, we took the other half of the loop. This half is much less traveled, so there were SO many spiderwebs on the trail. It is nearly as eventful, so next time we’ll probably go back the same way we came.

Unfortunately we didn’t have time to do the Upper Canyon trail before it began to rain again, but if you’ve hiked that one, we’d love to hear about your experience!