Ben Pounds: Whites Creek Small Wild Area offers charm, steep hills

There are trails that people don’t often think of when listing places to go in East Tennessee. Places that are in little-known corners but offer woods to explore with a few charming features. Whites Creek Small Wild Area, near Spring City, is one such place.

Its many steep hills offer a workout for hikers and trail runners who wish to visit. While it has no clear overlooks in the winter, its ridges offer a place to look down at the lake below and the surrounding hills during the winter when leaves are off the trees. The trail is a 3-mile loop, beginning at coordinates 35.762211 -84.762352.

On this particular hike, I joined a group from Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning, the group that maintains the trail here and owns some of the land. My father, Larry Pounds, who I have mentioned here before, is a member. We were here to maintain the trail, although apart from a few vines and branches to cut, we did not find much to cut or alter.

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