Backpacking in Savage Gulf State Park, Tennessee

Summary

For Spring break of 2022, my friends and I went backpacking in Savage Gulf state park, which is located in Tennessee. This hike was long enough ago that I don't remember all the details about the trip, and to be honest, I'm not even sure if my map I show later in this page is totally accurate to what we hiked 🤷. But, I do remember enough details to be able to write a pretty good post about this trip, and get most of the details right. I believe the trip was 5 nights and 4 days, not counting driving, and we hiked just over 40 miles total. We camped at a different campsite each night, but we did camp at the same campsite twice, because the loop we did sort of crossed over itself at one point. This was also our first camping trip that I didn't plan myself. My friend took the responsibility of planning. It was a bit hard for me to relinquish control of the planning, and at some points I definitely overstepped my bounds lol, but I was really impressed watching my friend plan this trip, and it made me feel like I had taught him useful skills, and made me feel proud.

The hike basically covered the circumference of a branching canyon, and we went down into and back out of the canyon twice. The weather was pretty good. The first day was pretty snowy and icy, and was a little sketchy at some points hiking down the canyon slope, but after that first day things warmed up, the snow melted, and by the end of the trip the weather was very pleasant. However, we did end up hiking out in a pretty bad thunderstorm, which was again sketchy due to both the heavy canyon slope, and the lightning that was occurring when we were high up on the canyon walls.

Even though there were a few sketchy parts of the hike, it was a great trip, and we all got to relax quite a bit during our spring break. There were nice waterfalls, some cool wildlife, and some pretty great views.

Weather

Like I mentioned in the summary, the weather was pretty good for this trip. The first day was pretty snowy and icy, and it was a little sketchy hiking down the canyon slope. Some of us in our group had spikes to put on our boots to help with traction, which was useful, but some of us just had to be careful with the ice. But after that first day things warmed up, the snow melted, and by the end of the trip the weather was very pleasant. The nights were a bit chilly, but nothing too bad, and the days got quite warm. However, we did end up hiking out in a pretty bad thunderstorm, which was again sketchy due to both the heavy canyon slope, and the lightning that was occurring when we were high up on the canyon walls. I was a bit stressed by the possibility of getting struck by lightning, but all's well that ends well :)

Highlights

Because this trip was almost four years ago 👴, I don't remember every highlight of the trip. But I do remember a few :)

One of the highlights of this trip was hiking out of the canyon for a quick lookout point. The hike out of the canyon was on a flight of stairs cut into stone, and it felt EXACTLY like we were hiking up the stairs of Cirith Ungol from Lord of the Rings (That's the secret passage that leads to Mordor that Frodo, Sam, and Gollum have to climb up). It was a pretty steep climb, and it was pretty exhausting, but the view at the top was so worth it. We could see for miles in every direction, and it was just a really nice moment to be able to take in the view after hiking up that steep flight of stairs.

Another highlight of the trip was watching my friend make decisions to plan this trip. I did help him some in the planning, but he really took the reins and did most of the planning himself, and it was really cool to watch him learn how to plan a trip like this, and to see him make decisions about what route to take, where to camp, what gear to bring, etc. It made me feel like I had taught him something useful, and it made me feel proud to see him learn how to do this.

Another highlight of the trip was a really dumb joke my friends and I came up with. While we were hiking, we came across a random sign that pointed towards something called "The Source". It ended up just being a spring that came up from the ground from a big rock pile, that went so deep we couldn't see the bottom. We started joking that it was the source of all water in the entire world. Really it was a very dumb joke, but it goes to show how easy entertainment is when you're stuck out in the wilderness for multiple days on end.

Packing list for the hike (as best as I can remember)

Clothing:

Base gloves
2 t-shirts
1 sweatshirt
2 pairs of sock liners
1 long sleeve shirt
2 pairs of underwear
Long underwear
2 pairs of wool socks
Winter coat
Winter hat
Raincoat
1 pair of sweatpants
Rain pants

First Aid

Medical tape
Tylenol
Hand sanitizer
Hot hands heat packs
Lip balm
A&D ointment (for chafing)

Food & Smellables

8 Mountain House freeze dried meals
15 Clif bars
15 Tuna packets (yuck 😖)
15 small bags of trail mix
A jar of creamy peanut butter
15 granola bars
Gatorade electrolyte mix
15 Fruit snack bags
A bag of dried mangoes
A fork
Sunscreen

Shoe gear

1 pair of hiking boots
1 pair of microspikes
1 pair of chacos

Sleeping gear

1 Big agnes 2 person tent
1 Exped Synmat HL MW sleeping pad
1 Polar Ranger sleeping bag
1 Sleeping bag liner
8 Tent stakes
1 Inflatable pillow

Cooking gear

Pot
Pocket Rocket 2 stove
2 450 gram canisters of isobutane-propane fuel
Lighter
Soap
Sponge

Electronics

1 26800 mAh power bank
Phone
1 Garmin In Reach
Garmin Fenix 6 GPS watch
Charging cords

General gear

1 Deuter Air Contact Lite 85 + 10 quart backpack
4 32 oz water bottles
1/2 liter Grayl water filter
Rain cover for backpack
Shovel
Headlamp
Compass
Map
Toilet paper
Small toothbrush
Small tube of toothpaste

Our route

Shown below is the map of the route we took on this trip. Here is a link to the GPX file of our route, if you want to see it in more detail, or if you want to hike it yourself!

Map of the route we hiked in Savage Gulf State Park — Map of our route

Additionally, here is an elevation profile of our route.

Elevation profile of the route we hiked

Pictures

Finally, here are some of the best pictures from the trip.

A campsite at night — A picture of our campsite for the first night

A man standing on a snowy trail — Us starting our hike in the snow and ice, hiking down into the canyon

A snowy waterfall — Another view of the cold conditions we started in

A view of us setting up our second campsite

Men laying around on rocks, some of them are reading — All of us relaxing after a hard day of hiking

A guy swimming in a pool of water at the bottom of a waterfall — Me taking a dip at another campsite

A panoramic view of a waterfall — Our hike was full of great views of waterfalls

A little orange salamander — A little guy we almost stepped on while hiking

Stone stairs cut into a canyon wall — Hiking up the steps of Cirith Ungol

Two guys relaxing by a river — Two of us taking a mid-day break

A picture of me hiking that I think I look good in 💁‍♂️

A guy hiking in rain — A picture of a hiker in the rain on our last day

Our group at the car at the end of the hike — Our group smiling at the car after a hard hike

Conclusion

This was a great trip, and I was really proud of my friend for planning it. The start and end were tough with snow, ice, heavy rain, and lightning, but we all made it through safely, and we had a great time. I would definitely recommend this hike to anyone looking for a fun backpacking trip in Tennessee. Just be sure to check the weather before you go, and be prepared for some sketchy conditions if you end up hiking in bad weather like we did.