Celebrating the Outdoor Lifestyle
The Innovation Valley region is a mecca for people with a passion for sports and the outdoors. Whether you like golf, football, hiking in pristine wilderness, or any other outdoor pursuit, you’ll find endless opportunities here.
- Encompassing 500,000 wilderness acres, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a treasure trove of hiking trails, campsites, waterfalls and streams, picnic areas, historical buildings, wildlife, and wildflowers. The national park is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2009 with numerous special events in the park and neighboring communities.
- The Big South Fork National Recreation Area offers 125,000 acres of wilderness area surrounding the scenic Big South Fork of the Cumberland River. It includes miles of scenic gorges, and recreation opportunities including camping, fishing, horseback riding, mountain biking, and whitewater rafting and canoeing.
- The Obed Wild and Scenic River has many miles of creeks and rivers with bluffs as high as 500 feet. It’s a favorite of those who love whitewater boating and rock climbing.
- Two national forests, nine state parks, and over 75 golf courses also provide ample recreation opportunities.
- Seven TVA reservoirs provide a vast water playground for boating, fishing, and shoreline recreation. Numerous mountain streams and rivers offer excellent trout fishing. Challenging whitewater abounds, especially at the Olympic whitewater course at the nearby Ocoee River.
- To call sports a regional passion is an understatement. Attendance at University of Tennessee football games averages 105,000, and the UT women’s basketball team has won eight NCAA championships. UT also fields first-class teams in men’s basketball, baseball, track and field, and many other sports.
