Tag: nashville

Henry Hollow and Sedge Hill Trails :: Beaman Park, Nashville TN

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When I first visited Beaman Park, I was so excited to find something like this so close to the city. This metro park is located in the Bells Bend area of the county, northwest of downtown.

There’s three different trailheads: Nature Center (entrance is off of Old Hickory Blvd), Creekside and Ridgetop (entrance off of Little Marrowbone Road) Trailheads. Creekside is the one nearest to the entrance and Ridgetop is up the hill. The Nature Center and Creekside have toilets and all three have parking lots.

There’s also three different trails of varying length and difficulties: Henry Hollow, Sedge Hill, and Laurel Woods. For this post, we’ll focus on the two shorter trails: Sedge Hill and  Henry Hollow Loop. You can access any trail from each of the trailheads, but typically, you’ll start at the Nature Center for Sedge Hill and Creekside for Henry Hollow. (Although all the trails connects though in some fashion.)

The Henry Hollow Loop (2 miles) follows Henry Creek then ascends onto the ridge. You get a good mix of walking creekside and along the ridge. There’s a little bit of elevation change climbing out of the hollow, but nothing too strenuous. You’ll have plenty of chances to sit along the creek or take a splash in warmer months. You’ll also see a few cascades from smaller streams leading into the creek, looking like mini waterfalls. I really love this stretch of trail; it feels so peaceful. 

The Sedge Hill Trail (.6 miles) connects the Nature Center to the Henry Hollow Loop. It’s short, but gets your heart pumping. It has a few ups and downs before it descends to join the Creekside trail. Plus, you’ll see one of my favorite trees in the world.

By connecting these two trails, you can make a just-over-three-mile balloon loop for a perfect little local hike. I love that you can be 20-25 minutes from downtown Nashville, but feel like you can grab a slice of wilderness.

Distance from Nashville: 20 min

Trailhead: Nature Center (Sedge Hill) or Creekside (Henry Hollow)

Trail: Sedge Hill and Henry Hollow

Link to trail map: Beaman Park Natural Area

Length of hike: .6 for Sedge Hill, 2 miles for Henry Hollow

Brief Overview: Streams, hills and woods close to home.

Mossy Ridge Trail :: Percy Warner Park

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I was looking through my posts on here and realized that I’ve never done one on the Mossy Ridge Trail. In all the times I’ve hiked it, I just never did a full write-up on it. And this trail definitely deserves it.

Percy Warner Park and it’s sister park, Edwin Warner are probably the most popular parks in Davidson County. Although, Radnor might give it a run for its money, Warner Parks have extensive trails both paved and natural and dogs are allowed on any of the park’s trails.

Mossy Ridge, also the ‘red trail’, is my personal favorite in the park. The Mossy Ridge alone is a perfect 4.5 miles. But, you have to access it via connectors so it is typically 5-6 miles depending on where you start.

This trail packs over 1,000 feet of elevation gain to get that heart pumping. Much of the trail is a steady balance of undulating uphills and downhills. It’s definitely a nice little challenge, even if you are in good hiking shape. But, it’s also a great trail close to home that can help you build stamina for those longer hikes, more difficult hikes that you may be training for.

You don’t hike “to a destination” but the whole trail is filled with the best trees, hilly views, the tiniest cascading waterfall and, of course, moss! Every time I hike it, I seem to love it more.

You can access Mossy Ridge from almost any trailhead in the park. The Deep Well Trailhead, off of Hwy 100 is probably the most popular place to start. You can also access it via the Cane Connector Trail at Vaughn’s Gap, also off of Hwy 100. For the shortest distance, start at the Chickering Trailhead off of Chickering Road. Where you’ll meet up with the trail after about .15 miles. You can also access it via the Gaucho Road Trailhead where a trailhead connector meets up with the Cane Connector Trail.

No matter how you slice it, the Mossy Ridge is a must do in Nashville!

One of the many steep descents/ascents
I mean it’s a mossy ridge!!!

Distance from Nashville: 20 min

Trailhead: Choose your own adventure (read above). I usually start at Vaughn’s Gap. But there’s about 4 different places you can start: Deep Well, Vaughn’s Gap, Chickering Road and Gaucho Road

Trail: Mossy Ridge (Red Trail)

Link to trail map: Percy Warner Parks Map

Length of hike: 4.5-6 miles depending on trailhead

Brief overview: Steady and challenging elevation changes, mossy ridges, so many trees, a small cascading waterfall in a perfect hike close to home.

Warner Woods Trail :: Percy Warner Park

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Chances are that if you live in or around Nashville, you have heard of Percy Warner Park (and its sister park – Edwin Warner). But, let’s just have a quick refresher, shall we?

If you’ve ever googled this park, chances are you’ve seen the famous “stairs”. (Which, may I add, is one of the trailheads that accesses the Warner Woods Trail.) On the southwest side of Nashville near Belle Meade, the Warner parks feature both paved, multi-use trails and traditional hiking paths. You can hike as little as 150 yards or connect trails of both parks together and create an entire day’s worth of hiking.

The Warner Woods Trail is a perfect introduction to the parks. It’s only 2.5 miles long, but it’s got enough hills to get your heart pumpin’.

It also features those stairs I mentioned plus the Luke Lea Heights overlook which is the highest point in the surrounding areas at 922 feet. Hiking to this overlook from Warner Woods adds about a half mile, but it’s such a small price to pay for a great view (for Nashville!).

Warner Woods is a great intro to the Warner parks trail system because you get to see some of the highlights of the parks in a moderate 3-miler.

Luke Lea Heights Overlook

Heavily-wooded trail

Heavily-wooded trail

The stairs (from the “back”)

Pup lovin’ life

Distance from Nashville: 20 min

Trailhead: Belle Meade or Deep Well Trailhead and Parking

Trail: Warner Woods Loop (see route in blue below – I started at the Deep Well trailhead because it’s usually a little less crowded and added in the Luke Lea Heights overlook.)

Link to trail map: Percy Warner Park Trail Map – Warner Woods Trail is marked in white

Length of hike: about 3 miles (if you add in the overlook)

Overview: Moderately hilly and heavily wooded trail easily accessible from both main trailheads with a highly recommended option for an overlook of the city