Cumberland Gap National Historic Site
Driving to Wilmington, Days 2 & 3 | Shawnee National Forest to Wilmington, NC | Hiking & Camping in Cumberland Gap National Historic Site | November 2022
The second day of our road trip began with wind and rain, forcing us to forgo the plans we had for that morning and continue driving. The roads that had been clear the night before were now covered with colorful leaves and debris from the storm. We drove down to Cave-in-Rock, IL hoping to take the car ferry across the Ohio River, but as we should have guessed, the ferry wasn’t operating due to the high winds and waves. Instead we had to backtrack up to IL-13 and cross at Old Shawneetown.
We didn’t have anything planned for our long drive across Kentucky, which was for the better since it rained heavily off and on throughout the day. Getting across the state from West to East wasn’t as cut and dry as we like routes to be. But we made it across, thanks to Curtis’ audio book and Taylor Swift’s Midnights, and enjoyed the fall colors and the views as they improved in the Eastern half of the state.
Today’s drive was 7 hours long, and we were all excited to finally make it to the main attraction and our campsite for that evening in Cumberland Gap National Historic Site. The campsite was just across the Virginia state line, and large with plenty of open spaces; the only downside was that it was right off the hilly highway, so we had to listen to trucks either going up or down the road all night long. We set up our tent over a thick pile of leaves cushioning the ground, then set off into the town of Cumberland Gap, TN to explore.
Unfortunately we were a little too late to stop at the visitor center, so instead we made our way to tonight’s hike. Just like the night before, we had chosen the park’s most popular trail, but how could we pass up the chance to hike to the Tri-point between Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia? We set off on the trail without any umbrellas, so of course it started raining on us. Curtis ran back to grab the umbrellas, then the rain stopped and we stayed dry for the rest of the hike.
The Tri-State Peak Trail was just over 2 miles long with a steady elevation gain the entire way, following some of the old roads to the Gap itself before following the ridge up to the monument. The ground was a bit slick thanks to the rain and leaves covering the trail. We crossed paths with plenty of people on their way down, but found ourselves all alone up at the top. We took pictures at the tri-point, admired each of the views of the different states, Curtis bagged the nearest actual peak, and then we made our way back down.
Curtis had found a letterbox on the way up and was excited about finding his first ever Tennessee letterbox…until he realized that the letterbox was actually in Virginia, so he had to quickly come up with an alternate. Luckily there was another one nearby, so we made our way through Cumberland Gap to where the box was planted, near a covered railroad bridge.
History by Curtis: Cumberland Gap is one of the great migratory routes of the Eastern Continent, and it honestly felt really cool to literally follow a path that has been used for millennium. As Curtis’ topographic map showed us, there is an enormous valley stretching the length of the Appalachian mountains called the Great Appalachian Valley. It extends from the Tennessee River in Alabama all the way to the Champlain Valley in New York & Vermont and is characterized by very shallow passes along the valley, but very steep mountains to the East and West. The impact this valley had on American development is extremely interesting and a lot of American expansion happened along the length of the Valley. But, as I eluded, while traveling along the length of the Valley is relatively easy (you can easily travel the entire length of the Valley entirely by interstate), getting into and out of the valley was difficult, and passes across the rugged mountains flanking the valley became critical avenues.
In the case of the Upper Tennessee and Holston Rivers, the only low pass crossing the Cumberland Ridge and connecting the Great Valley to the fertile lands of Kentucky was the Cumberland Gap. It was used by prehistoric bison herds and was an ancient trade route between the Southern and Northern tribes. In the 1770’s Daniel Boone used it as the primary means of traveling into the Bluegrass region at the behest of the Transylvania Company. The Gap would then become one of the primary avenues of Western expansion at the beginning of the century.
Jess: Once we were finished with today’s adventures, we returned to the campground for dinner, games, reading, and sleep. Despite the highway noise, we slept well and woke up ready to finish the drive!
Our last day of driving fell on a Sunday, and we had about 8 hours of driving to get from Cumberland Gap to Wilmington, NC. We drove US-58 heading East across Virginia, then dipped into Tennessee to claim another county. We didn’t have much planned for the drive, with Curtis’ one request being to drive to the summit of a 300 Meter prominence peak. He picked one that we could drive up in hopes that it would offer good views of the Mount Rodgers mountain area. We re-entered Virginia on I-81 then resumed our drive on US-58. The drive was long, winding, and slow going, especially with the biker traffic going to trails along the Virginia Creeper Trail. We followed signs off the highway toward Whitetop Mountain. Based on the signs and the road, we were hoping for a nice summit with views. But as we drove up the narrow dirt mountain road, our hope faded, and when we reached the summit we found it was gated off. Oh well, it wouldn’t have been a 360 view anyway because of the trees and the clouds. We still got out to take a little walk, and enjoyed views to the South and West and we could just make out the Appalachian Trail downslope. And it still counts as a prominent peak for Curtis, so he was now one closer to his goal of 300 by 40.
After that, we finished our drive through the mountains, gassed up in Hillsville, VA, then finally entered North Carolina. It rained a little throughout our drive, but around this area was when we found more fall colors at their peak (the colors in the higher elevation areas were decidedly past peak). We drove through Winston-Salem and then took I-74/US-74 Southeast all the way down to Wilmington. There came a point as we drove Southeast when everything started to feel familiar, even though we hadn’t ever driven this road before. It was strongly reminiscent of driving I-26 between Columbia and Charleston, like we could see the signs of the land transforming into the Low Country all around us.
We arrived in Wilmington late that afternoon, spotting little reminders all around of the last time we were here in 2016 for our 3rd wedding anniversary. The courthouse here is still one of our favorites! We checked into our hotel and settled in for the next couple weeks here.
