Jackie Steffan We were surprised to find a park so close to downtown Bristol. It certainly doesn’t feel like you are 10 minutes away from downtown when in the park. Besides walking and hiking trails, this park has a lot of other fun activities to offer, including fun for children. Activities include: Steele Creek Express (train), disc golf, picnic shelters for rent, lodge, nature center, multi-use sports field, splash pad, paddle boat rentals, swimming in Steele Creek Lake, and playgrounds.
Getting There
From I-81:
- Take Exit 74A to merge onto US 11W N/W State Street towards Bristol
- Travel 0.4 miles, turn right onto Medical Park Blvd
- Travel 0.4 miles, turn left Meadow View Rd
- Travel 1.4 miles, turn right onto TN-126W
- Travel 0.5 mile, turn left onto Old Stage Rd
- Travel 0.3 mile, turn left onto Steele Creek Park Rd
- In 0.2 miles, you can turn right onto Little Lane, which is the main park area. Here is where you’ll find the train, disc golf course, lodge, and nature center. This area will cost $2/car.
If you want to avoid the $2 admission fee, there are several other surrounding parking areas that are free. Here’s the details to reach each free lot:
Mill Creek Parking Lot
- From directions above, after turning right onto TN-126W, travel 0.4 miles, turn left onto Steele Creek Drive
- Travel 0.6 miles, continue onto Broad St.
- Turn right into the Mill Creek Parking lot
Rooster Front Parking Area
- From I-81:
- Take Exit 69 towards TN-394 E
- Travel 0.3 mile, keep right at fork and merge onto TN-394E
- Travel 3.9 miles, turn left onto Exide Dr.
- Travel 1.5 miles, turn left onto Volunteer Parkway
- Travel 3.1 miles, turn left onto Vance Dr.
- Travel 0.6 mile, turn left into Rooster Front Parking area
https://tn-bristol2.civicplus.com/DocumentCenter/View/236/Steele-Creek-Park-MapPDF?bidId=
https://www.bristoltn.org/DocumentCenter/View/325/Trails-of-Steele-Creek-PDF?bidId=
Lakeside Trail
— 2 miles one-way — 1 hour — Easy — No elevation gain/loss —
We prefer to start from the Mill Creek Parking lot. From the parking lot, start on the Quarry Cave Trail. Travel 0.2 miles on a easy, paved trail. After crossing a bridge, you’ll pick up the Lakeside Trail on a wide, flat, gravel path around the lake. This trail will continue for about 1.2 miles. You’ll reach a beautiful waterfall flowing over the Steele Creek Dam. Just after you pass the falls, there is a little trail on the right that takes a bridge over to the dam and a view of the waterfall from the base. Be careful on the bridge though, there were a few boards missing when we hiked this trail last (see picture below).
Continue along the Lakeside Trail for another 0.4 miles, following Steele Creek. At the end of the trail, you will approach the Rooster Front Parking area. You can easily turn around at this point and retrace your path for an out-and-back hike, or you can continue for a full loop on Lake Ridge Trail for a total round-trip of ~5 miles. See next trail for continued loop details.
Lake Ridge Trail
— 1.85 miles one-way — 1 hour — Easy — 480 ft. elevation gain/loss —
If taking the loop from the Lakeside Trail, before reaching the Rooster Front parking area, there is a trail to the right that crosses Steele Creek. If doing this trail alone, we would recommend starting from the Rooster Front parking area. The first part of the trail ascends a hill pretty quickly. The trail follows a ridge line fairly high above Steele Creek for awhile, before reaching the Dam and Steele Creek. After the Dam, you’ll begin a route away from the lake and deeper into the woods. 1.2 miles from the Rooster Front parking area, you’ll reach a trail intersection with High Ridge Trail. Either route will end up in the same place, but we typically choose to stay straight on the Lake Ridge Trail.
After another 0.3 miles on Lake Ridge Trail, you will reach a spur trail, the <0.1 mile Overlook Trail on the right, that ascends to, you guessed it, an overlook…or well…what was an overlook at one point. We were pretty disappointed, so-much-so we didn’t even bother taking a picture, but views are likely better in the winter when leaves have fallen. After another 0.3 miles on the Lake Ridge Trail, there will be another trail intersection and you’ll continue straight. From there, it’s a very short distance to reach a long bridge and trail that traverses a narrow sliver of land with water on both sides. At this point, the scenic part of the hike is essentially over, so you could return the way you came if doing an out-and-back hike, or continue along the paved paths paralleling Lake Shore Drive for about 0.4 mile, to eventually cross a bridge and join the Lakeside Trail to complete the loop.
Stay tuned for more trails to be added from Steele Creek Park!
