East Fork Stables & Campground

York, Tennessee

Our last stop in the Big Fork Recreational Area was East Fork Stables & Campground. This campground boasts over 100+ miles of trails. About 50 miles of the trails are friendly to wagons and buggies.

This campground hits all price points. You can have full hook-up for $35/night, partial hook-up (just water and electric) for $25/night or boondock for $15/night. They even have a couple of cabins for rent. Horses can use box stalls for $25/night, pipe corrals for $20/night, or a large grassy paddock for $15/night. You can also opt to highline your horses or use your own corral/fencing for $5/night.

We opted for full hook-up so we can shower without worrying about filling up our tank. The horses got a large grassy paddock.

The horses did try on the box stalls for size, but when we saw a paddock was available, we moved them into the open space. There is no cover in the paddock and no real shade, but they don’t seem to care.

The campground is huge with well over 100 different sites. There is a shower house, a couple of round pens, an obstacle course, and a small general store. There is WIFI throughout the campground and it is pretty decent. We were pretty much the only ones in the entire campground. For some reason, management decided to place two new campers right next to us for our final two nights here. The entire campground is empty, but they thought we needed neighbors with a chatty child and a barking dog.

We rode the trails all three days. The trails are fairly well maintained and marked. We didn’t get lost. There was some mud on the trails, some water crossings, some easy up and down, but nothing too awful. Of the three locations, we have stayed in the area, we liked the trails here the best. We spotted a cave on the A trail and there is a great view from Base of the Rock on the B trail.

There were several downed trees on the B4 trail, which meant we had to bushwhack around the obstacles off the trail. Ari went to the office to let them know that trees were blocking that section of trail. He was told that the staff had a vacation day because it was National Prayer Day. National Prayer Day is not a state or federal holiday. It is similar to National Pizza Day or National Barbecue Day (which coincidentally falls on the same day as National Prayer Day).

Tennessee Whiskey and Moonshine

On one of our afternoons, we went to the Tennessee Legend Distillery, about an hour away in Crossville. This was our last chance to try real Tennessee moonshine, which is such a large part of local culture and history. This was a really lovely experience. Our bartender, Tray, was fabulous. The way the tasting works is that they lay out a placemat with all the different whiskeys and moonshine they have on offer. You get eight small shot cups. You place the container on the picture of the liquor you want to sample. Tray walked us through each sample and provided advise on how we might mix and serve it. We ended up buying a bottle of the apple pie moonshine. We have been watching “Justified” on DVD and one of the characters brags about making the best apple pie moonshine in Kentucky. The apple pie moonshine tastes of cinnamon and nutmeg without being too sweet and it doesn’t taste too bitter. The best part about moonshine is that it doesn’t go bad. Tray says we can open the bottle and it will never go bad. Unlike wine, which turns to vinegar if you wait too long. Tastings are FREE.

Video on our tasting: https://youtube.com/shorts/89dUP1j99rY?feature=share