The best long distance backpacking trail within a day's drive of Lexington is going to be the Cumberland Trail in Tennessee. The trail will extend 300 miles from the western edge of Cumberland Gap National Park to Chickamauga National Park in Georgia. It's not done yet, but enough of it is complete that you can hike or even backpack long stretches. It winds through some of the most pristine scenery in the eastern half of the nation. It's easily accessible, being only two hours from Lexington on I-75. This brings you to Caryville and Cove Lake State Park, from which as of July 2012 you can hike westward to Frozen Head State Park, a 33 mile, four day trip. By 2015, you'l be able to hike eastward 40 miles to Cumberland Gap National Park at Middlesboro, a five day trip.

Unlike its partner Pine Mountain Trail in Kentucky, the Cumberland Trail does not follow a straight line. You could lay a straight edge along the Pine Mountain Trail. But the Cumberland Trail is a graduated arc, starting out from Cumberland Gap at a 45 degree Southwestward angle, and finishing at Chickamauga actually curving back toward the Southeast. The accentuated part of the arc occurs between Wartburg and Chattanooga. The arc between Cumberland Gap and Wartburg is much less pronounced.

You won't have any stream wadings. Down in the gaps and saddles, there are old railroad trestles, swinging bridges, and 1800s road bridges like this classic. Up on the ridges or sometimes on the switchbacks, just after those sudden rains, torrents of runoff will cross the trail. Other than that, you'll have pretty dry hiking.

Camping privileges are still being worked out. This is a narrow linear state park. Easements have been purchased from landowners but do not extend far on either side of the trail. As construction nears completion, officials will be negotiating with landowners to allow primitive camping.

The trail drops down to wind along Watts Bar Lake for several miles below I-40. By late Summer drought, Watts Bar Lake is usually down, and your scene will look somewhat like this by late afternoon. The trail below I-40 spends a lot more time down in the valleys and much less time up on the ridges. You still have beautiful views, but you're looking up at the ridges instead of looking out across distant vistas.

The trail circumvents Chattanooga. It drops down from Signal Mountain to Prentice Cooper State Forest and heads north along the greenway corridor. There's an open greenway from Chickamauga to Lookout Mountain. How they're going to lay the trail from Lookout Mountain down to the river and up to Signal Mountain is still under discussion.

You'll see wildlife continuously. Raccoon are common everywhere, so you have to hoist your food between trees. Black Bear will be prowling around your campsites at night, especially up on the ridges. Porcupine like to gnaw on your hiking boots so you need to bring the boots into the tent with you. Possum will shuffle through after dark, rattling your pots and pans and sniffing along your tent edges. All of these visitors will rummage through your backpacks so you may wish to hoist the packs, too, but do it separately from the food. In the bottomlands, you'll see lots of deer and a few Elk browsing. Pheasant and Wild Turkey are a little more cautious but you can see them if you look carefully. Red Tailed Hawks will perch high in the trees at the edge of clearings, and from up on the ridges you can look down on Turkey Vultures riding the air currents. A few Golden Eagles are near every body of water and Osprey are up on the ridges. Rattlesnakes and Copperheads will sun themselves on rock outcroppings from noon until about 4 pm; they seem to know enough to keep away from the trail, but if you move off trail for a break or a potty stop, watch where you put your hands. Skinks and Fence Lizards are everywhere.

Because of its altitude, the Cumberland Trail is comfortable to hike in High Summer. When the other Ohio Valley long distance trails are much too hot and humid, the Cumberland is tolerable. That said, it is still best hiked in April, May, September and October. In the Spring, the wildflowers are in full bloom and create breathtaking displays across the meadows and hillsides of the ridges. In Autumn, hardwoods are in full color and create a backdrop of golds and reds all the way to the horizon. If you do hike it in Summer, you'll notice a definite rise in heat and humidity as you drop down into the valleys. The ridges are as much as 10 degrees cooler, with cool breezes continuously blowing across. Once the sun drops, the ridges cool down nicely, and the breezes make night time sleeping very pleasant. The valleys hold in the heat and humidity and don't have the breezes.

If you're planning a trip to the Cumberland Trail, we recommend the websites www.EdgeTrekker.com. and www.cumberlands.org. They include up to date information on lodging, restaurants, stores, and other attractions in the area like fishing, beaches, and and historical sites.