During my Easter break, I joined my parents on their weekend trip to Frozen Head State Park in Crab Orchard, Tennessee. They were tent camping on the campsite in the state park campgrounds, and I was able to sleep in the back of my car – as usual. We ate at some surprisingly good restaurants for being in the middle of the country and planned to hike ~20 miles over the course of the weekend. Overall, it was a great trip, which is why I’m writing this blog post.

I will walk you through the timeline of our trip with pictures and brief commentary describing the events that occurred.

I left for Frozen Head on March 29, 2024. We had a hike planned that afternoon, but we fueled up at Brushy Mountain Grill. I ate a double cheeseburger and a chili cheese dog, kind of a mid, but good.

After eating, we drove up to the mountains behind the Historic Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary and hiked to the prison mine and Lookout Tower Frozen Head. The hike was ~6.3 miles and took 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Strava Link: https://www.strava.com/activities/11065000033

After this hike, we checked into our campsite and I helped set up my parents set up the mildewy 8 person mega tent (for 2 people, lol) and I set up my the back of my car with a small blow-up mattress made for camping. That night we went to El Patron (3688 Morgan County Hwy, Wartburg, TN 37887) and it was great: 9/10 for me. Definitely get the Burritos Verdes!

The next morning I was woken up by our campsite neighbors chopping wood at 6 in the morning. I have no clue why they were up but I hate whoever it was with a passion. Our plan for the morning was to hike the Chimney Top Trail, roughly ~10 miles. To fuel this hike we ate at Tanners Historic Cafe, also pretty good. Then set off on the hike!

Strava Link: https://www.strava.com/activities/11072319732

The hike was brutal with lots of elevation but overall not too bad. But El Patron was so good we decided to eat there again for dinner. Then I went home so I could get some better sleep and not get woken up by someone chopping wood in the middle of the night.

Overall a good/enjoyable trip. Also this is my first real blog post, I wanted to start documenting things I do so I can have them documented forever and be able to look back and remember them in detail. So be expecting more blogs like this one!