Jackie Steffan — 6 miles out & back — 2.5 hours — Easy — 20 ft. Elevation Gain —
Looking for a unique easy hike along a river and wetland? Phipps Bend Trail is the place! This is also a very popular horse trail; we saw many while we were there. The history of the area was very intriguing. A nuclear power plant was planned for the site and was mostly constructed before it was abandoned shortly after the Three Mile Island incident. The structures make for interesting photo opportunities, not to mention the beautiful river and wetland views.
Getting There
From I-26
- Take Exit 1 onto West Stone Drive, and head towards Church Hill (away from Kingsport)
- After approximately 15 miles, turn left onto Phipps Bend Road
- Drive approximately 1.5 miles, turn left onto an unmarked Schmeide Rd.
- At the end of the road, turn left into a parking lot area
The Hike
Walk along the gravel road towards the gate. This wide Phipps Bend Trail will be your path the entire way. Wetlands will appear shortly on the right where waterfowl, turtles, or other wildlife are seen.
After about 0.75 mile, the trail may be a little wet as the wetland drains across the trail. Fortunately it is usually easily navigable due to some well-placed rocks and the overflow is fairly shallow. Take a moment to admire the beautiful views here.
Shortly after that, on the right, enjoy a great view of the cooling tower remnants across the wetlands.
The remainder of the trail is flanked by the Holston River on the left and varied wetlands/forest on the right. Pass directly under some buzzing power lines. At around 2 miles, the trail will reach an intersection. Our recommendation is to continue left. Straight appears to just be an area to host an event or potentially a shooting range. Right, and up the hill, goes past the main Phipps Bend nuclear reactor plant; you can take this route on the way back to complete a loop hike, but it would be mainly returning on paved roads in the industrial park.
If you proceed left as we recommend, you’ll continue along the Holston River, passing by some open fields on the right. The trail ends in a field after a short uphill walk. We chose to find a nice spot along the river here to stop, enjoy the view, and eat a snack/lunch.
To return, take the same path back. As mentioned above, if you prefer, take the loop path back along the edges of the industrial park on paved roads. We chose to return the same way we came, then drove down to see the main nuclear plant buildings. Unfortunately you can’t get that close to them, but still a unique and rather eerie experience.
