Tennessee · Outdoors
The Tennessee Outdoors
State parks, waterfalls and lakes, with the guides to plan them.
Where should you go outdoors in Tennessee?
Start with Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Fall Creek Falls State Park and Reelfoot Lake State Park, then use the guides on this page to choose by what you want to do. Trails, hours and fees change, so check each park's official page before you go.
Making a drive of it? See Tennessee road trips, or browse places by region.
Parks and sights worth the trip
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park: 522,427 acres divided almost evenly between Tennessee and North Carolina, with 848 miles of trail.
- Fall Creek Falls State Park: Home to Tennessee's highest waterfall, the 256-foot Fall Creek Falls, on about 29,800 acres of the Cumberland Plateau.
- Reelfoot Lake State Park: The only large naturally occurring lake in Tennessee, born from the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811 and 1812.
- Burgess Falls State Park: Four waterfalls on the Falling Water River, the last and most spectacular plunging into the gorge.
- Cummins Falls State Park: A 75-foot waterfall over a natural swimming pool; the base takes a Gorge Access Permit.
- Rock Island State Park: Twin Falls pours from limestone bluffs where three rivers converge at the headwaters of Center Hill Lake.
- Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area: 125,000 acres of the Cumberland Plateau protecting the free-flowing Big South Fork of the Cumberland River.
- Shiloh National Military Park: Nearly 110,000 American troops clashed here, with more casualties than in all of America's previous wars combined.
- Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park: At least 17 mounds, a museum and paved trails on more than 1,600 acres.
- Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park: An ancient Native American earthwork enclosure with trails and waterfalls on the Duck and Little Duck Rivers.