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Old 07-05-2011, 06:36 PM
 
Location: Houston
148 posts, read 389,383 times
Reputation: 161

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Ok, I took the time to look at the pictures of Nashville on this forum. From what I can tell Nashville looks like it has plenty of hills. It does not look flat like Dallas or Houston. Is it really hilly?

I have a few questions about the landscape of Nashville. Please keep in mind I have never been to Tennessee.

How far is Nashville from mountains? As a New England native now living in Houston, I miss hiking. Speaking of mountains how far are the Smokey's???

Does the Nashville area have nice fall foliage?

Are there nice lakes nearby with cabins for rent?
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Old 07-05-2011, 06:47 PM
 
Location: Nashville
569 posts, read 1,424,672 times
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Nashville has gently rolling hills for the most part. If you go northwest and west of the city, then the hills are bigger. Southeast of the city is flatter. There are several nice places to hike around town. You can check out Radnor Lake, Beaman Park, Percy Warner Park to name a few. The mountains will be in East Tennessee. It's about 3 hours to the Smokies...so it's definitely a doable weekend trip. The further away from the city...the nicer the foliage...but you can find plenty of spots to see the leaves change color. I grew up on Center Hill Lake...which is about an hour east of Nashville and quite nice. There are lots of lakes around middle Tennessee....with plenty of places to rent cabins.
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Old 07-05-2011, 07:46 PM
 
2,428 posts, read 5,543,931 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jpimus View Post
Ok, I took the time to look at the pictures of Nashville on this forum. From what I can tell Nashville looks like it has plenty of hills. It does not look flat like Dallas or Houston. Is it really hilly?

I have a few questions about the landscape of Nashville. Please keep in mind I have never been to Tennessee.

How far is Nashville from mountains? As a New England native now living in Houston, I miss hiking. Speaking of mountains how far are the Smokey's???

Does the Nashville area have nice fall foliage?

Are there nice lakes nearby with cabins for rent?
Nashville is rolling hills. Excellent for cycling.

Closest mountains are Smokies. They are about 3-4 hours away.

As for hiking, TN has some amazing State Parks. A couple years ago they were ranked best in the country. Roads and state parks TN does well.
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Old 07-05-2011, 09:06 PM
 
Location: Nashville
597 posts, read 2,107,957 times
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Or, head down toward Chattanooga, North Georgia, not far and full of discoveries.

You have nothing to worry about. Depending on the time of year, such as a nice, cool Fall day hiking, you won't know you're not in New England...until someone says "hi" in a nice southern drawl.
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Old 07-05-2011, 10:40 PM
 
Location: Franklin, TN
6,662 posts, read 13,325,072 times
Reputation: 7614
Quote:
Originally Posted by jpimus View Post
Ok, I took the time to look at the pictures of Nashville on this forum. From what I can tell Nashville looks like it has plenty of hills. It does not look flat like Dallas or Houston. Is it really hilly?

I have a few questions about the landscape of Nashville. Please keep in mind I have never been to Tennessee.

How far is Nashville from mountains? As a New England native now living in Houston, I miss hiking. Speaking of mountains how far are the Smokey's???

Does the Nashville area have nice fall foliage?

Are there nice lakes nearby with cabins for rent?
Nashville as a whole is pretty hilly...

Just some interesting geological notes about Nashville...

Nashville is in what is known as the Nashville Basin...which is actually a collapsed dome (a quick look at the rock strata around town and you will notice that it dips away from the city...meaning that the original dome has eroded).

Nashville is in the northwest corner of this (basin)...so to the immediate north and west you will notice a steep rise in elevation (the northern and western borders of Davidson County) known as the Highland Rim. This also occurs far to the south of the metro area, but much farther away, all the way down near the Alabama border in some cases...and to the east, the rise to the highland rim is around the Putnam County line.


This is a Physiographic map that gives you an idea of what I'm talking about. The bright pink (Ordovician period) shows where the Nashville (dome) is, where the bright blue (Mississippian period) shows the Highland Rim areas.

(Davidson County = Nashville, Williamson = Brentwood/Franklin, Rutherford = Murfreesboro/Smyrna/LaVergne, Wilson = Mt Juliet/Lebanon, Sumner = Hendersonville/Gallatin).


Another map, a little more localized.

More specifically, the elevation in Nashville ranges from about 385' at the Cumberland River to a little more than 1,100' about 5 miles south of downtown in the ridges above Radnor Lake. If you look at the terrain map on google maps, it will give you a good idea of where the steeper hills are in town.


Now on to your questions, specifically:

Quote:
How far is Nashville from mountains? As a New England native now living in Houston, I miss hiking. Speaking of mountains how far are the Smokey's???
Nashville is a good 150 miles from anything I would truly call a mountain. Now that's not to say there's not good hiking around, though. Looking specifically in Nashville, Radnor Lake State Natural Area and it's 5+ miles of trail make for a very easy local getaway (trust me, it's not your average "city park")...plus there are several nice city parks (such as the Warner Parks and Beaman Park) and greenways in the area.

The Smokeys are about 3 hours to look at, and about 4 hours to drive through. As much as I like Middle Tennessee, East Tennessee comes in second to no one with their selection of mountains and hiking in the area. For someone looking for a little challenge, you can try to hike Mt. LeConte from Gatlinburg to the summit (an 8+ mile hike, with a climb of a vertical mile).

[qoute]Does the Nashville area have nice fall foliage?[/quote]

Decent...nothing spectacular. It really depends on the weather (too much rain or too little rain makes it much less nice). Your best bets will be on the Cumberland Plateau (60-100 mile trip) for some nice foliage, or all the way back to East Tennessee and the Smokies for some very nice foliage.

Quote:
Are there nice lakes nearby with cabins for rent?
I don't know about cabins to rent in the immediate area (we have two lakes -- Old Hickory and J Percy Priest)...but you might check into LBL (Land Between the Lakes) a little north and west of Clarksville, and Center Hill Lake and Tims Ford Lake a little west and south of town.
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Old 07-06-2011, 01:35 PM
 
Location: Houston
940 posts, read 1,901,556 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jpimus View Post
Ok, I took the time to look at the pictures of Nashville on this forum. From what I can tell Nashville looks like it has plenty of hills. It does not look flat like Dallas or Houston. Is it really hilly?
I grew up in Nashville, and lived there 3 times. Living in Houston, wondering if you like me have been pestered with dreams where driving around Houston, I finally encounter hills which I have missed the whole time. One time I actually ran to investigate an approximately 40-50 ft high plateau-like formation visible from Windfern Rd. I climbed up and at the top could see for many miles in all directions, but had discovered the vegetated backside of a monster landfill. Still an unusual experience in H-town.
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Old 01-07-2013, 02:04 PM
 
Location: San Gabriel/Arcadia, CA
399 posts, read 1,549,466 times
Reputation: 244
Thanks everyone! The thread has helped me as well. Going into the Navy and flying West to Hawaii, I looked out and said " I have to see all of this..." Ten years have passed and I've lived and seen a good amount of it, and miss my familiy back in Indiana. That being said, the "Rolling Hills of Bloomington" probably won't suffice for my outdoor cravings such as the Santa Monica Mountains where I currently live and go to school. And I don't care about the weather anymore, I miss snow and good thunderstorms.

When I am done at UCLA, I'll be looking into Tennessee for sure, as it's a day drive from Fort Wayne, easily. Thanks again and to all of us explorers, "Home is just over that Mountain!"
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Old 01-07-2013, 02:33 PM
 
584 posts, read 1,135,939 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghostgecko View Post

When I am done at UCLA, I'll be looking into Tennessee for sure, as it's a day drive from Fort Wayne, easily. Thanks again and to all of us explorers, "Home is just over that Mountain!"
There are parts of the Nashville area that remind me a LOT of Rolling Hills going up into Palos Verdes.
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Old 01-07-2013, 11:05 PM
 
11,630 posts, read 12,691,000 times
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Really? Rolling Hills has those straight down drops.
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Old 01-08-2013, 07:56 AM
 
584 posts, read 1,135,939 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Coney View Post
Really? Rolling Hills has those straight down drops.
Yes, really - and I'm not referring to the pavement itself (the pitch in Rolling Hills and Palos Verdes is much steeper than anything I've experienced around Nashville) - yet there are moments where I have to blink a couple of times because the visual of the hills and the lights and landscaping is so similar. The visual is pretty in the way some parts of RH and PV were when we were there.
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