The Big South Fork of the Cumberland River

Big South Fork NRRA - Kentucky and Tennessee

The Big South Fork NRRA is located in McCreary County, Kentucky and Fentress, Pickett, and Scott Counties in Tennessee.  The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is located in Blount, Sevier and Cocke Counties in Tennessee and Swain and Haywood Counties in North Carolina.  A  study of the plants living in the Big South Fork NRRA found a greater variety of plants living in the Big South Fork NRRA in comparison to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  The rock shelters and the temperatures of the Big South Fork NRRA may provide a greater variety of  habitats than the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  If the Star Trek transporter were available to me I would probably choose the the Great Smoky Mountains.  If I must drive myself I would be happy to go to the Big South Fork.  The thought of leaving today buoys my heart.  I have seen Twin Arches in the Big South Fork NRRA; the scenery there makes Big South Fork NRRA trip worthy.  Both the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Big South Fork NRRA have their beauty.  And two parks complement each other; one straddles the Tennessee border with Kentucky and one straddles the Tennessee border with North Carolina.  The story of Big South Fork NRRA and the surrounding Daniel Boone National Forest is a story of redemption.  These were once ugly places and they have been transformed.  Now they are appealing places.