Norris Dam State Park

When you pull up Tennessee on Google Maps, you'll see lots of green, and you'll see lots of state parks, natural areas, wildlife management areas, national forests, and national parks.

So far, I had been to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, but I hadn't been to any of the state's 53 state parks. So this week, my brother and I headed out to Norris Dam State Park to do a little hiking.

Norris Dam - from west overlook

The most prominent feature of Norris Dam State Park is the dam itself. Norris was the first dam constructed by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Completed in 1936, it is 265 feet high and holds back the Clinch and Powell Rivers to create Norris Lake - a reservoir with 33,840 acres of surface water and 809 miles of shoreline. The dam provides electricity to the region and controls downstream flooding.

The visitor center is located on the east side of the dam. It was closed when we visited, but I've heard it has some good information about the construction of the dam. The view of the dam from the visitor center is okay, but the best views are from the west side overlook. Watch for a gate on Highway 441 (Norris Freeway) and a sign for TVA Overlook. I couldn't find it marked on the map, so I created a Google map with the location marked.

The park covers a pretty large area around the dam (4,038 acres according to their website) and has lots of trails for exploring. We did two fairly short hikes while we were there.

First part of Clear Creek trail

First we took Clear Creek Trail, which starts at the Grist Mill (you can park your car in a small lot in front of the mill and there's a sign for the trail right up next to the mill). The trail wanders along the creek through some very pretty wooded areas. You start out walking along a channel that supplies water to the mill, then you progress down towards Clear Creek. The creek is aptly named - the water is crystal clear and you can see right to the bottom.

Woodland Wildflowers

We had read about some guided wildflower walks that were offered on this trail earlier in April. There were still plenty of woodland wildflowers blooming at the end of April. We saw several small waterfalls (spillways of small dams, actually, I think), a couple nice picnic spots, and the remains of an old mill along the trail. When we got to the intersection with High Point Trail, where there's a big blue water treatment tank, we crossed over to Lower Creek Road, which runs right along the creek, and followed that back to the Mill. We saw lots of butterflies in the sunny area around the road.

The Clear Creek Trail was narrow and muddy in places, but seemed pretty easy. There were a couple spots where we had to walk through a little water, so boots are a good idea.

People who don't want to take on the trail but would like to see Clear Creek can drive on Lower Clear Creek Road. It's a gravel road that looked in good condition when we were there. There is one spot where the creek crosses the road, but it's shallow and the road is paved there. We saw cars crossing it with no trouble.

Grist Mill

Lower Clear Creek Road (shallow water crossing)

Although the Clear Creek Trail starts in the Park at the Mill, you soon cross over into what's called the Norris Watershed area. There's a separate trail map for out there, which we didn't have at the time, so we turned back while we still had our bearings.

After doing the Clear Creek Trail, we took a lunch break (Cracker Barrel in nearby Lake City, just a few minutes drive from the center of the park).

Songbird Trail

After lunch, we did the Songbird Trail, which  is a loop of about two miles that runs along the Clinch River. The path is wide and surfaced with packed gravel. It seemed to be popular with runners and exercise walkers.

The view of the river was nice and, true to it's name, I did see and hear plenty of songbirds. It was a nice walk and would be a good option for anyone who wants a nice, firm, flat path, but I preferred the woodland creekside setting of the Clear Creek Trail.

One other trail that I had seen mentioned online as good for wildflower viewing is the River Bluff Trail. It wasn't clear from park maps how to get there. I was hoping to be able to ask someone at the visitors center, but since it was closed, I was out of luck. I looked it up after I got home and found an article about the trail in the Knoxville newspaper. There are directions in the article, and I found a TVA site that had a link to a map with the trail head parking location.

Clinch River from Songbird Trail

Norris Dam State Park Trails Map

Norris Watershed Trail Map

TVA River Bluff Trail and Trail Head Location Map

Trails system information

TVA Trails, with driving directions and trail maps