36°04′20″N84°33′05″W / 36.07220°N 84.55151°W /36.07220; -84.55151
Lone Mountain State Forest is astate forest inMorgan County, Tennessee, located in the southeastern United States. The forest consists of 3,624 acres (14.67 km2) managed by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture.
Lone Mountain is a detached ridge-like mountain rising to an elevation of 2,530 feet (770 m) in the southern half of Morgan County. Although the mountain's altitude is not particularly notable, its isolation makes it one of the 25 most prominent mountains in the state of Tennessee.[1]
Lone Mountain is located on the western fringe of theCrab Orchard Mountains, the southern tip of theCumberland Mountains which rise atop theCumberland Plateau just west of the plateau'sWalden Ridge escarpment. The mountain's western base is formed by theEmory River, which flows down from its source near the summit of Bird Mountain to the northeast and winds around the base of the range before descending the plateau and emptying into theWatts Bar Lake impoundment of theTennessee River. Lone Mountain's northern base is formed by Crooked Fork, a tributary of the Emory. Bitter Creek, which flows roughly parallel to the Emory, slices a substantial valley along Lone Mountain's eastern base, splitting the mountain off from the rest of the Crab Orchard range.
Lone Mountain spans much of the stretch ofU.S. Route 27 betweenHarriman andWartburg. The community of Mossy Grove is situated at the mountain's eastern base in the Bitter Creek valley.
Lone Mountain State Forest was created from a land donation by the Lone Mountain Land Company in 1938 and a large land purchase by the Morgan County Chancery Court the following year. Lone Mountain was managed as part of Morgan State Forest until 1970, when it became an independent state forest. The State Forestry Division managed Lone Mountain with a "hands-off" approach to allow the forest to recover from damage caused by the Lone Mountain Land Company. Timber harvests within the forest are therefore relatively rare.[2]
In 2002, a tornado swept across Morgan County, devastating the community of Mossy Grove and wiping out some 500 acres (2.0 km2) of trees in Lone Mountain State Forest. The tornado caused the closure of the Carl Black Spur trail which remains closed as of 2008. Forestry officials plan to have the Carl Black Spur trail open for the public again soon. The tornado opened up the opportunity for a new trail aptly named Twister Pass which runs from the South West trail up to Todds Landing.Southern pine beetle infestations in the 1970s and 1990s killed off a large number of the forest's pine trees, leaving mostly hardwoods.[3]
Lone Mountain has approximately 15 miles (24 km) of trails, the most popular of which leads toCoyote Point, an overlook just below the summit on the south slope of the mountain. The trails were developed in the late 1980s for horseback riding, and are well-equipped with watering holes and hitching posts. The trails are also open to hikers and mountain bikers. The trailhead is located just west of US-27 along Clayton Howard Road.
