Fork Knob Trail

File:Placeholder.JPG Trail Name Fork Knob Trail Nearest City Johnson City State Tennessee Trail Marking {{{Marking}}} Trail Use/Features Difficulty Rating Medium Hiking Time 0.50.5 Hours <br />0.0313 Days <br />30 Min <br /> Distance, round-trip 0.90.9 mi <br />1.448 km <br /> Climb/Descent Elevation 580580 Feet <br />176.784 Meters <br /> / {{{Elevation Loss}}}"{{{Elevation Loss}}}" is not a number. High Point 31703,170 Feet <br />1,056.667 Yards <br />966.216 Meters <br /> Nearest Medical Johnson City, TN Trip Reports Click Here Loading map... {"type":"ROADMAP","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"270px","height":"180px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"visitedicon":"","wmsoverlay":false,"zoom":8,"layers":[],"controls":["zoom"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"cluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":36.27684610000000020590960048139095306396484375,"lon":-82.332403400000004012326826341450214385986328125,"icon":""}]} Show Large Map

Trail Overview

Located in Buffalo Mountain Park, this trail heads up to Fork Knob. Parts were in the May 2008 wildfire.

How to get there

Refer to the “How to get there” instructions on the Buffalo Mountain Park page. The Fork Knob Trail heads off from the Cascade Trail and then rejoins it back at the top.

Route Description

For this trail wiki, the blue-blazed Fork Knob Trail is shown mapped with the Ladyslipper Loop. From the Cascade Trail, take a left up the hill. A tee is reached where left is the Ladyslipper Loop while right continues up Fork Knob Trail. While two other side loops are shown on the JC park map, I did not see either while hiking. At the top is bench which is being considered the junction with Cascade Trail and Fork Ridge Trail.

Coming down the steep Fork Knob Trail is a different experience. The split is reached for Ladyslipper Loop right and left to continue on Fork Knob Trail. On Ladyslipper Loop, the turn back to Fork Knob Trail is not marked at all and path is narrow, thus most folks plunge downhill on the red connector shown on the map.

Typical Conditions

This trail was significantly impacted by the 2008 wildfire, thus now winds through the burn area. Be careful of the remaining small blowdowns and sharp dead rhododendron which are still falling across the trail. Briars are sprouting along the path.

The well-worn path is severely eroded in places, thus needs some water bars to direct the rainfall off the path.

Additional blazing is needed on the Ladyslipper Loop.

Maps

The Fork Knob Trail is in blue, while Cascade Trail and Fork Ridge Trail are both in black. The officially-unmaintained red connector is also shown. <googlemap version="0.9" lat="36.2732" lon="-82.347" type="terrain" height="500" zoom="15" scale="yes" icons="http://tehcc.org/clubwiki/kml/marker{label}.png"> http://tehcc.org/clubwiki/kml/Buffalo_Mtn_Park_Fork_Knob_Trail.kml http://tehcc.org/clubwiki/kml/Buffalo_Mtn_Park_Cascade_Trail.kml http://tehcc.org/clubwiki/kml/Buffalo_Mtn_Park_Fork_Ridge_Trail.kml http://tehcc.org/clubwiki/kml/Buffalo_Mtn_Park_Spur_Connector.kml http://tehcc.org/clubwiki/kml/Buffalo_Mtn_Park_Huckleberry_Knob_Spur.kml

(S) 36.278324,-82.347679 Picnic area (G) 36.26883,-82.34725 Fork Knob </googlemap>

Photos

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