Sharon Johnston Park is a park we frequented growing up. Back then it did not offer all that it…read moredoes these days; however, they have always hosted a Madison County Youth Fishing Rodeo every May. The lakeis stocked with catfish, bream, bass and crappie. Other annual events are a classic car show and a fall festival. I always knew the park honored Sharon Johnston but didn't know anything about Sharon. Turns out she was quite the "dare devil" and was a stunt pilot who tragically died when her biplane crashed during an air show at the South Weymouth Air Station at the young age of 31. She lost control of the single engine plane during a series of spins and crashed. Her family donated the land to the community in her name because it was a place she loved dearly, where her father built a lake, worked to conserve wildlife, and taught his children about the wonders of nature. Since the 70s the park has really grown! Now it includes an arena (think horse arena - not concert venue), a marked walking/running course, rental pavilions, a playground with pavilion, Olympic sized swimming pool, campground for tent and RV camping, frisbee golf, and a shooting range. It's a cool park with some neat rustic touches like an old wooden carriage and log cabin styled structures.

We love this park!! More importantly, the kids love this park. We're thankful to have this nearby…read moreas there soo much to do here. Can't wait to plug in more with the activities here.

Stopping here is a no brainer. It's just a quick turn off a long highway into a small parking lot…read morethat has a short walking path and an outstanding viewpoint overlooking a huge lake with mountains and trees all around. If you like taking a break from driving, looking at big lakes, mountains and trees at the same time, and listening to chirping birds and getting fresh air, this is your spot. Spend 5 mins getting a pic, or meditate in the grass for hours and get your chakras balanced and what have you. Easy to see. Worth seeing. Pull in and take a look for yourself.

What a wonderful gem! I was in Scottsboro AL to visit the Unclaimed baggage store and stumbled…read moreupon this place. I love the great outdoors and had every intention of going hiking, but ran into a few issues. To satisfy my desire to embrace the great outdoors I stopped by this place. The view is of the TN river and you must check it out. I honestly don't think the pictures do it justice. It's a small area but would be great for jogging or walking, having a picnic or simply taking in the scenery. I was also impressed by the fact that they have at room facilities available. I did not go into the restroom, but from the outside it appears new and clean. I highly recommend making the stop if you are in the area.

This is a really nice park for the community. It's an easy walk. My older mother is able to do it.read more

Very few people have visited Wells Hill Park located in Fayetteville TN. Even fewer people have…read moreactually seen the waterfall, because you have to hike 3 miles. It's a lightly used walking, hiking, running and nature trail. The main attraction is the waterfall, at the end of the trail. Be prepared to walk approx 1.5 miles to reach the waterfall (approx 3 miles roundtrip). You will cross water at some point, if your goal is visiting the waterfall. Depending on the time of year, the trail can be quite muddy. I always use calf high waterproof hiking boots and gloves, when visiting this park. Most of the trail is easily accessible (walking), some portions will be tricky (intermediate level). The closer you reach the waterfall, the difficulty levels increases: because of incline hiking slightly uphill, unlevel ground, crossing water (slippery), possibly muddy, fallen trees and overgrowth of grass/bushes. Great trail to get some light exercise, view nature, spend time of your dogs (Yes, I bring my dogs when hiking) and see the waterfall.

One of my roommates and some friends of ours come to this park once a week and play pickleball…read morehere. We don't play competitive or on teams, just for fun. I use to play tennis in college and I quickly fell in love with pickleball while playing at Dublin Park. The park is kept well lit at night and is nice and clean. A lot of things to do here during the day as well

What an amazing place for people of all ages and hobbies! We came on a humid Wednesday around 5pm…read morefor the playground and my kids (almost 2 and 4) were immediately in love with the rock climbing walls, variety of swings for literally all ages, and the various structures. The only way we convinced our toddlers to leave was to promise smoothies/icees as a departure treat. Felt extremely safe, was spotlessly clean, and people there were friendly as well. Wish we had a spot like this near us.

Randomly stopped en route to Florida. Spent couple hours hiking few of the trails around the lake…read more They ladies in the little office were very friendly and knowledgeable. Hard paved park with resting areas almost every 200'

Tims Ford was the name of a pioneer river crossing in this area. Eventually, this lake became known…read moreas Tims Ford Lake- and is a 10K acre lake. The 2,200 acre land around it was developed into the Tims Ford State Park. Today, it has a visitors center, a gift shop, 20 cabins, 2 marinas, 8 boat ramps, fishing, picnic pavillions, playgrounds, a recreation center, paved walking paths, mountain biking paths, and 4 hiking trails- the Clifton Doyle Trail (.55 mile), the Highland Rim Wildflower Trail (.25 mile), the Lost Creek Overlook Trail (1.35 mile), and the Spann House Trail (a 3.8 mile loop). The coolest thing about this park is that if you decide to boat, it has a floating restaurant you can boat up to, and six islands with campsites you can boat up to and camp at. The aviary has a gorgeous owl, and we enjoyed the overlook we hiked up to.

This is my experience as someone who came here just to hike. The trails are great! They are not…read moreovergrown and the trail markers are bright and large! I would appreciate some wood signs discerning the junctions from one another. There are several social trails that will mislead you and could easily be fixed with a social trail sign or caution tape. I color coded the map attached to this review to show my route. I parked at the trailhead for the fitness trail. I walked the pink line to the museum and walked the yellow line back. Once I took a break, I did the green line. Due to poor planning I didn't realize the bike trail wasn't a loop and so I didn't intend to do two there and back hikes I'm not sure why it's not a loop as it could likely be connected from where it ends at the amphitheater to the 0.40 mile mark on the part of the bike trail headed straight to the museum... The visitor center/museum can be walked to from the bike trail. It's got information and artifacts from David Crockett's life and stuff. They also have several birds of prey outside that you can view anytime. The park rangers are very friendly and helpful when kids want to learn about the birds.

Stayed here for one night camping in hammocks. We actually got an tv spot because we were on the…read moreHarleys and it was a good place to park and also the bathhouse. Extremely clean park and the facilities were excellent. Will stay again if in the area.

Great terrain for experienced hikers and other beautiful terrain for less experienced, older hikers…read moreand children. Be sure to bring camera... in the fall, this is called Rainbow Mountain for a reason. Balanced Rock is a just short walk down from the end of Stoneway Trail.

Tons of trails and options while hiking here. The trails are moderate to difficult, with steep…read moreinclines and lots of stuff to trip on. I'd recommend bringing a walking stick, especially if it has been raining. The trillium were just coming out, not quite in bloom when we visited. I can see this being a very popular local destination to hike on the weekends.

The Short Springs Natural Area wasn't exactly what I pictured in my mind, but satisfying…read morenonetheless. First, for some reason I pictures a state park with large parking areas, a visitor center, road signage and restroom facilities. NOPE!!! Google Maps navigated us to the general area, but figuring out where the trailhead and parking were located was up to our own savvy. But as God would have it, we found parking near a water tower off Powell Road and someone just happened to be leaving as we arrived, giving us a great parking space. This was extremely fortuitous because spaces are limited and several people who arrivaled just minutes after us waited a good while for spaces to become available. WARNING: Find restroom facilities BEFORE you make it here! Otherwise you will find yourself searching for privacy in the nearby forest to relieve yourself. The trailhead is directly across Short Springs Road from the parking area. I would highly recommend using ALLTRAILS to navigate your way around the Natural Area. My wife has developed Morton Noroma in recent years which severely limits the types of hikes she can join me on, so our intention here was to only visit MACHINE FALLS and BUSBY FALLS, bypassing more than half of the entire Short Springs loop. Still, this was not as easy a trail as I thought and my wife wound up viewing Machine Falls only from the overlook deck. The descent to the base of the falls is steep, so she opted to stay on the trail above as I climbed down for pictures. MACHINE FALLS is a beautiful multi-tiered waterfall surrounded by high shale rock cliffs adorned with moss. The climb down to the falls is a combination of manmade wooden steps, boulders and tree roots. Once you reach the creek, you will need to hug the right side stones all the way to the falls (if you don't want to get your feet wet). The volume of water was fairly light the day we visited, so on heavy volume days it's probably impossible not to get your feet wet. After Machine Falls we followed the loop to Bobo Creek Trail which leads towards BUSBY FALLS. We then took the split to Laurel Bluff Trail via Collier Horn Bridge. After crossing the bridge you can choose to go left or right around this 1.4 mile loop. We chose to go right, which is the quickest way to Busby Falls. The trail follows Bobo Creek, but one small section of it requires the use of a rope due to a severe elevation change. It's not difficult, but something older hikers and those with really young children should be aware of the challenge. To my surprise there was a secondary waterfall coming off the cliffs near Busby Falls as well as a third 14 foot waterfall along Bobo Creek closer to the bridge. Not sure if these two additional waterfalls have names like the others within the Natural Area, but they were very nice surprises! My wife did not do the rope climb down to Busby and instead just enjoyed the scenic views of the river while I went off exploring the waterfall just a short distance away. We retraced our steps back to the Bobo Creek Trail and took the right leading us back to the parking area. While I didn't think the trail leading directly to Machine Falls was very attractive (it honestly was one of the ugliest trails I've ever seen), the remainder of the hike was nice and the Laurel Bluff Trail near Busby Falls was easily the most scenic portion of any trail we hiked today. I can't speak for the rest of the Machine Falls Loop or the Adams Falls Trail, but I've read reviews saying it's a nice looking trail. FINAL THOUGHTS Overall not what I expected when looking for easy waterfall hikes my wife could enjoy, but it IS manageable and customizable to fit different hiking needs. There are multiple waterfalls throughout the Natural Area. Our hike took 1:37 hours and was approx. 2.4 miles long with an elevation gain of about 335 feet according to my ALLTRAILS log. Machine Falls was the largest, but I personally thought Busby Falls was prettier. Also nearby (within a 5 minute drive) is Rutledge Falls. I highly recommend paying it a visit if you are planning to be in the area. 2023 / 28

Did the hike to machine falls and it was worth it! It is breathtaking! I've heard that in the…read morespring the waterfalls are heavier and there are a bunch of wildflowers... but the moss against the rocks and water was a sight on to itself. The trails are marked well and the description of the trails are accurate. The trail to machine falls does note it is steep in some parts and that is very accurate. There are places where you are on narrow paths with a drop off. I personally wished I had brought my walking poles but that is personal preference. Parking is on the other side of the road from where the trails start and is limited. Highly recommend this hike and this park!