After hiking at Fall Creek Falls State Park and the Obed Wild & Scenic River Preserve (both of which I recommend) we headed east and dropped from the Appalachian Plateau, entering the Ridge and Valley Province of the Appalachians.
As its name implies, this middle Province is characterized by parallel ranges (relatively low in elevation) that are separated by stream or river valleys, all of which (in Tennessee) eventually drain into the Tennessee River. Indeed, as we drove eastward and then northeastward through the Province, we crossed the Clinch and Holston Rivers, two of the larger tributaries.
Nearing Knoxville, we could see the Great Smoky Mountains to the southeast; these well-known mountains anchor the Blue Ridge Range, the easternmost Province of the Appalachians, which rises across northern Georgia, northwestern South Carolina, southeastern Tennessee, western North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and southern Pennsylvania. Tomorrow, after a night in Johnson City, we begin our exploration of that Range.
