I have two different ways to start this one—to \ rn. There's one where I refer to all three people who helped me as assholes but I'm not sure about dropping a curse word like that in the opening paragraph. And then another one where I start out by telling you how I like waiting until my second run at these singletracks before filming. Otherwise I would've missed this cover image.
The Next One
This One
He was free climbing the face of that rock—about 500 feet in the air without ropes. Since I've never experienced having two different beginnings like this and uncertain which to use, I'll flip for it.
Heads goes like this: Waiting until the second ride on these singletracks before filming is a good idea—allows me to take my time on the first ride. I can pay as much attention to my surroundings as what's in front of me when scoping out these trails. I'm identifying hazards, snapping as many photos as I want, and watching the gps for forks. This is what it looked like the first time at Ijams Nature Center.
This is if it lands on Tails: I'm surrounded by a considerably larger number of assholes these days—gotta be a combination of things. With the uncertainty in 2020 followed by 2021 not looking any different running concurrent with nobody even has to fake smile anymore because of these masks, there's a lot more assholes out there today than I remember there being this time last year.
I asked three different people at the staging area if the east or west side of Turnbuckle was the downhill entrance. All three said east—the uphill one. Assholes. This is what it looked like the first time at Ijams Nature Center.
Ijams Nature Center is a 175 acre wildlife sanctuary south of downtown Knoxville open to the public year-round. There's two staging areas—one at the east end near Meads Quarry Park and one closer to the center at Aberdeen Drive. I parked at Aberdeen. Both have an 8am - dusk electric gated vehicle parking. So if you drive yourself there, your vehicle has to be out by dusk or it's locked in for the night.
Daily visitors touring and fishing the 25 acre lake, exploring protected caves, and climbing rocky bluffs are common. The sanctuary is home to several breeding birds including a few resident bald eagles and screeching owls. I went there for singletrack trails—more than five miles of them ranging from easy to black diamond. I scoped out (red outline) a 3n1/2 mile loop on Trailforks with 2n1/2 miles of intermediate riding and a little under a mile of black diamond—Turnbuckle.
This trail's less forgiving than the last one I showed you at Fort Dickerson Quarry—either that or the three assholes had me going the wrong direction. Several spots require dismounting and carrying the bike up rocks. This trail, however, unlike the previous one, had a few benches to catch your breath along the way—bowl benches.
There's a lot more technical riding at Ijams than Fort Dickerson. I only spotted a few speed sections and each of them are short. Rocks, boulders, steep inclines, tight turns and carrying the bike over obstacles make it more technical than fast. Plus it rained a few days prior so the mud made slippery conditions.
The trail's maintained nicely. It's cut deep into the mountain so even now, when covered in fallen leaves, you won't lose sight of it. There's several junctions that change direction, they're identified by a 6x6 post in the ground.
Along the trail are four or five nicely built bridges for creek crossings and on turns when large boulders aren't passable without them. One's built on a tight 180 degree turn, it's banked high like a slingshot, it came and went before I had a chance to snap a picture—next time.
With about 1/4 mile remaining on the 3n1/2 mile loop, around a few more turns and over another climb, I found another bowl bench. The car was a short distance away so I hung out for a minute in the forest and caught my breath, even posed for #shadowhunters before I left.
I'll need to ride the opposite direction now, see which of the two is best for recording. Pura's off for a few days now, too, so that's cool, if it doesn't rain between now and then the mud won't be an issue—see you then.
"Peace"