RACCOON MOUNTAIN
28 miles of single-track around a TVA reservoir, including a 14-mile loop with real climbing.
Where it is
- Distance
- 14.2 mi
- Climb
- 1,450 ft
- Shape
- Loop
- Effort
- Hard
Raccoon Mountain is 28.3 miles of trail wrapped around and below the TVA pumped-storage reservoir, and it is where Bad Beard runs the Rabid Raccoon every winter. The full reservoir loop is 14.2 miles with about 1,450 feet of climbing, which is the closest thing to a mountain long run inside twenty minutes of the city.
If that is more than you want, the paved road around the reservoir is a 4.6-mile loop with 369 feet of gain. It is shared with cars, so run it against traffic.
The trails are two-way, all of them, with no directional schedule and no day-of-week alternation. Mountain bikers use the same single-track you do and some of it is fast, so run expecting to meet someone coming the other way around a blind corner.
Gates close at 7:30 in the evening. TVA would rather trail users did not park at the visitor centre, so start from East Overlook.
Two-way traffic on every trail, shared with mountain bikers, no directional schedule. Drones are prohibited on the TVA reservation.