Mountain Bike Trip to LBL

For those of you who don't know LBL stands for Land Between the Lakes which is a large federal park between Clarksville, TN and Paducah KY. It has a great mountain bike trail at the north end of the LBL peninsula called the Canal Loop. The loop is about 12 miles long with the east side being less hilly that the west side. The terrain is fairly rocky so it dries well after rain and holds up over time. I have been riding there for over 7 years now and it is a great trail.

Hope and I were looking to get multiple rides in over the 3 day weekend with some grandparent over site of Abby but the weather did not co-operate and we only got one good ride in Friday morning before the rain, winds and cold weather set in for the weekend. Our one loop was a good one though and the trail was in great shape. Some one had been doing some great trail maintenance and integrating some trees that had fallen across the trail at different locations with built up log crossings of varing technical difficulties with some "blue" go-arounds for the less brave or skilled.

If you are wanting to go and ride at LBL it takes about 1:45 minutes to get there from Nashville and you just park at the North Welcome Center and the trail starts and ends there.

Also there is a very nice campground called Hillman Ferry just 3 miles south of there which has a connector trial to the Canal Loop and makes for a nice 18 mile ride from the campground. Rustic camping is also available for a $10.00 annual fee very close by.

Also of note is that the main north south highway going through LBL has been repaved and is buttery smooth.