Tennessee's 67th State Park: The Clinch River Valley State Park in Hancock County (published 9-27-2026; article #575)

Source: Tennessee State Parks: Clinch River Valley State Park: Horton Ford, Clinch River, Aerial View.

Introduction

That's a nice view! Lord willing, I hope to drive up soon to see it in person.

Thankfully, last Wednesday's strong line of thunderstorms finally dropped the temperature to seasonably cool fall weather. They also provided much-needed rain. Until then, September had been far too hot and dry for comfortable hiking in the early fall.

I could have gone out to explore the woods this afternoon. A joy of retirement, however, is that I can hike any day of the week, not just on weekends, which was my plight during my employed years.

The call of the forest must await the publication of this article about Tennessee's 67th state park. Located in nearby Hancock County, it is called the “Clinch River Valley State Park.” A better name would have been “Kyle’s Ford State Park.” After all, it is in Kyle's Ford, Tennessee.

How I Found Out About the New Park

As a subscriber to my hometown newspaper, The Rogersville Review, the postal delivery of the 8/26/2026 edition arrived late last month. Subscribers may read the column online at “New state park opens this week in Kyle’s Ford: Former River Place property has been transformed.” The Rogersville Review, Edition 8/26/2026, by Joanne Irvin.

To summarize the article, Friday, August 21, was the official dedication ceremony for the Clinch River Valley State Park (CRVSP), which is located in Kyle's Ford in Hancock County, Tennessee. The main entrance is at the intersection of state highways 33 and 70.

The State of Tennessee bought the 19.45-acre location formerly known as the River Place on the Clinch. The state also acquired 20 acres at Horton’s Ford, which is a few miles up the river from the River Place.

Initial work involves renovating the old store into a visitors’ center, which may include a restaurant. Small cabins are already nestled in the park. Some of them have running water, Wi-Fi, and small kitchens. The cabins may be available to rent by next March.

The park's mission focuses on river conservation, outdoor recreation, and Appalachian heritage. Guided river floats may be available now. Bluegrass music shows are planned.

Currently, the park is open from Thursday through Sunday from 8 AM to 4:30 PM. For more information, you can call 888-867-2757. The park's address is 2788 TN Highway 70, Kyle’s Ford, TN 37765.

I was delighted to learn about the new park. Again, it should have been named the “Kyle’s Ford State Park.” You could add “on the Clinch River.”

More About the Clinch River Valley State Park

You can learn more about the park by browsing around on Tennessee State Parks: Clinch River Valley State Park, as I did. As of the park's opening last month, it was the 67th and newest Tennessee State Park. The park is located approximately 70 miles northeast of Knoxville, Tennessee, and about 55 miles west of Kingsport, Tennessee.

The new park, along the Clinch River, consists of rolling hills, bottomland forest, and the biologically diverse river. It includes several scenic fishing locations. There are two biking (or hiking) trails. The Kyle’s Ford Riverside Ramble is an 18.2-mile paved trail, which begins at the General Store (the former River Place on the Clinch). The longer trail is the 44-mile Clinch River Gravel Loop trail. It is a partially paved and partially graveled trail, which includes the Kyle’s Ford Riverside Ramble.

Finally, the visitor center and general store in Kyle’s Ford offer information and places for folks to gather. Certainly, the area is rich in Appalachian history.

Conclusion

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, I remember riding with my father in his old pickup truck and going to Kyle's Ford. Dad may have had to work on or replace someone's water well pump or drill a water well in the area. At times, my parents took us boys over there for a day trip.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, once I was older and had a car, I set out to visit and explore the scenic Kyle's Ford area on my own. I may have taken a young lady, whom I was dating at the time, over there to enjoy the views.

I haven't been over to Kyle's Ford in a long time. The next time I venture up to Hawkins County, will I take the time to drive over Clinch Mountain to check out the new Clinch River Valley State Park? Maybe so. If so, who wants to go with me?

This has been the 39th entry in the Appalachia—Northeast Tennessee topic section. I hope you have enjoyed it.

September 1-12, 2026: Life, Such as It Was (published 9-15-2026; article #574)

Introduction

Well, howdy, dear reader. It's about time for another entry, the 118th, in the Life (such as it is)—or was recently—Topic Section. The focus is on the first twelve days of this month, September 2026.

At the end of each month, I turn the page of my desk calendar to the next month, which appears as a blank canvas. Daily, I paint the canvas with handwritten notes about the highlights of each day.

What a canvas I have painted so far this month! Hang on, dear reader. The first twelve days of this month have been eventful.

Tuesday, September 1, through Saturday, September 5

The first of September welcomed the first day of meteorological fall, but it didn't feel like fall. About an hour after I published that day's article—about the oldest hiker to complete the Appalachian Trail—the temperature on the shaded front porch thermometer reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit. For the next three days, the late afternoon highs reached 100 or 101 degrees. Thankfully, the high on Saturday, the 5th, was a “cool and crisp” 98 degrees. Yes, I'm joking.

Not only has it been hot, it has also been dry. Prior to the intermittent rainfall on Saturday, the 12th, the last rain fell over three weeks before on Thursday, August 20, from 8 to 9 AM. Last month, we received enough rain for excellent fall colors. Now, I doubt the leaves will be very brilliant next month unless it rains more this month. Further, I really need to scratch the itch to begin my fall, winter, and spring hiking season, but it's been too hot and dry.

Around 5 PM on Wednesday, September 2, my cellphone received a text and voicemail from what I thought was a scammer. The next morning, Thursday, after shop vacuuming the basement in anticipation of our monthly pest control spraying that afternoon, I called our local bank. Those contact attempts were the bank's legitimate efforts to reach me. You see, late in the afternoon on Saturday, 8/29, my wife and I dined out at the Inskip Grill with her two younger sisters. I paid at the table using my debit card, like checking out at a store. Apparently, the card reader was hacked. A scammer stole my debit card information and tried to use it for a purchase. So, after getting an oil change for our 2012 Nissan Sentra at Miller Brothers Auto Repair, my 2006 Nissan Frontier took me to the bank to get a new debit card. It was an interesting way to remember the wedding anniversary of my deceased parents. They were married on Thursday, 9/3/1959. I was born a little over ten months later.

The next day, Friday, I realized that T & C Lawn Service (Whitesburg, Tennessee) had turned over the mowing job at the homeplace in Hawkins County to N & H Lawn Care (Rogersville). Without notice, the day before, I received the first bill from N & H Lawn Care. My calls on Friday, September 4, to both lawn services figured out what had happened. T & C Lawn Service forgot to let me know they had given up the yard, after 14 years of mowing service, and to recommend another mowing service. Thus, on the 125th anniversary of my maternal grandfather's birth on Wednesday, September 4, 1901, I agreed after the fact to the homeplace's new mowing service.

Saturday, the 5th, was the much-awaited start of the college football season! Preseason polls ranked the Georgia Bulldogs #3 in both polls. The Tennessee Volunteers ranked #20 in the Associated Press (AP) poll and #18 in the Coaches poll. In the morning, I temporarily took down my Appalachian Irishman yard flag and put up for football season our Georgia and Tennessee yard flags. The article from 9/26/2025 about the flags includes their photograph. We are a house divided during college football season. Both teams played “cupcakes.” At 3 PM, Georgia began to pick apart Tennessee State University. The final score was 63 to 3. Tennessee, starting 30 minutes later, likewise destroyed Furman University, 56 to 9.

Before the football games started, my wife, her sister (closest in age to her), our niece (her sister's daughter), two cousin-in-laws, and I sat down for a soup bean meal around 2 PM at my wife's homeplace. It was an early celebration of Labor Day and a soup bean kickoff for college football. The gas-passing ceremonies, which followed, were observed privately. Having eaten my noon meal at the “scriptural” time (between 12 and 1 PM), I wasn't hungry for soup beans and cornbread at 2 PM. Well, I nibbled on a slice of cornbread. My wife, however, brought leftover soup beans and cornbread for my supper. I hope a new Labor Day tradition of eating soup beans and cornbread at 2 PM isn't starting.

Sunday, September 6, through Saturday, September 12

Sunday, the 6th, was a typical day of worship and relaxation. For the second day in a row, the high reached a “cool and crisp” 98 degrees Fahrenheit. Yes, I'm still joking.

As mentioned previously, my wife's side of the family and I celebrated Labor Day two days early on Saturday. On Labor Day Monday, the 7th, my sister-in-law, who lives nearby, labored by drinking the medication to prepare for her next-day “roto-rooter” outpatient procedure. Remember, what goes in must come out. My wife spent the night with her sister and took her for the outpatient “roto-rooter” the next day. Both sisters survived. Unfortunately, it brought back memories of my Valentine's Day 2023 “roto-rooter,” as unloaded in my 2/15/2023 article.

Wednesday, 9/9

The day needs a separate subsection. What is the following photograph?

Wednesday, 9/9/2026, 3:13 PM, photograph by M. Fearghail.

It shows the right side-view mirror (or what's left of it) on our 2012 Nissan Sentra. The car was parked in the garage. The white back cover is also missing.

What happened? Never drive to Kohl's to buy a new purse! My wife, the “long-suffering” Mrs. Appalachian Irishman, was on her way to buy a new purse at the nearby Kohl's. The three purses she has, it seems, are insufficient in either size or condition to hold her billfold, “semi-intelligent” phone, two pair of glasses, car keys, and knickknacks (or whatever else).

As she approached the Union Baptist Church building on Washington Pike, she heard a thud and saw the side-view mirror fall off the car. It landed in the ditch beside the road. Instead of continuing her purse-hunting adventure, she returned home. Amazed, I asked if something had hit the mirror or if she hit something with it. Nope. It simply committed suicide by falling off!

After searching online for a replacement part, I realized that I would have to paint a new back cover white to match the car's color. Wisely, I decided to call the nearby Miller Brothers Auto Repair. They could get replacement parts for about the same cost that I could, but they have "the right stuff" to blend in white paint on the back cover. After driving in my 2006 Nissan Frontier to pay for the parts, which will be ordered, I drove to the mirror suicide location but didn't find the remains. (I was going to give the corpse a proper burial.)

Once Miller Brothers Auto Repair receives the replacement part and has it painted, they will call to arrange a day and time to install the new mirror.

Remember, don't drive alone to Kohl's to buy a new purse. Your vehicle's right side-view mirror might commit suicide by falling off!

Thursday and Friday

On Thursday morning, the 10th, this Appalachian Irishman moved about 44 storage boxes from beside the basement stairwell a few feet back to the back basement wall. I also moved a storage shelf away from the other side of the stairwell and closer to the basement windows. Afterward, I shop-vacuumed the entire basement. Why did I do all that?

The next day, Friday, marked 25 years since the terrorist attacks on Tuesday, 9/11/2001. We remembered and watched some live coverage of memorial events. My previous statements about the fateful day are found in my articles from 9/13/2020 and 9/12/2021.

My previous day's work in the basement anticipated Friday's installment of insulation around the basement stairwell. Yes, on Friday, 9/11/2026, three workers from CFI Insulation came and installed batt insulation around the basement stairwell. They arrived around 8:40 AM and were done at about 10 AM. Why did we have the work done? Why didn't we do it ourselves?

During the house construction phase in 2003, the basement stairwell was not insulated. On a subfreezing winter day, with windows and doors secured tightly and four vents blowing warm air into the basement, the basement temperature holds to the upper 40s to low 50s Fahrenheit, which is comfortable for an unfinished basement. Walking down the steps to the basement door, however, we feel the chill coming through the uninsulated sheetrock. We needed to insulate the area to hold the heat. A relatively easy job, we could have done it ourselves, but my wife and I knew the aggravations that we would have. We decided to hire the work done, avoid the annoyance, and keep peace between us.

Saturday, 9/12

On Saturday, the 12th, college football games were wrapped around my wife's high school reunion. Forty-five years ago, the still youthfully vibrant Mrs. Appalachian Irishman graduated from Central High School in McMinn County, Tennessee. The class of 1981 celebrated in a banquet room at Chesapeake's on Parkside Drive in west Knoxville from 6 to 9 PM.

The Georgia Bulldogs' trouncing of Western Kentucky University started at 12:45 PM. Another “preseason scrimmage game,” Georgia won, 70-20. I watched the game before the reunion. The Tennessee at Georgia Tech game, however, started at 7 PM, during the reunion. Thankfully, someone switched the television in the banquet room to the game. While attendees talked and dined on buffet items, those interested could keep an eye on the game. Back home around 9 PM, we watched the last part of the game from the comfort of our living room. Tennessee swatted the Yellow Jackets, 45-24.

My 2006 Frontier delivered my wife and me to the reunion location just before the 6 PM start. A best friend from high school had found my Facebook profile, reached out to me, and asked my wife to call her. That was how we learned about the reunion.

What all went on at the reunion? Perhaps Mrs. Appalachian Irishman will grace us with a future article including photographs. She enjoyed becoming reacquainted with high school friends. I hope at least two or three keep in touch with her. What did I do? I played the role of the gentlemanly husband while interjecting witticisms. Well, I did make a mild protest when the musical playlist played a tune from the Bee Gees! Gratefully, the musical selections included several truly classic rock songs from the late 1970s and early 1980s. Remember, disco is dead! Long live classic rock!

So, dear wife, will you publish an article about your class of 1981 high school reunion? Will you include a few photographs? Let's wait and see, folks!

Conclusion

The first twelve days of my September 2026 desk calendar are no longer a blank canvas. Handwritten notes for each day have painted an interesting picture of life, such as it was, on those days.

Who says retirement is boring? It only is if you let it be. Get out. Be active. Enjoy life. Do what you wish you could have done during your working years. Most importantly, find ways to use your God-given talents in service to the kingdom of Christ. Live your life in service to God, family, and country. You will live well, and you will transition well from death to everlasting life when it is your time.

Are you working on that article yet, dear? Your first and only article so far, a good one, was published over four years ago.

Dale Sanders, at 91, is the Oldest Hiker to Complete the Appalachian Trail: I Am Inspired! (published 9-1-2026; article #573)

Introduction

Greetings, dear reader, on a hot and humid first day of meteorological fall. It's steamy outside, and we could use some rain. A little while ago, I saw 98 degrees Fahrenheit on the porch thermometer.

This 91st entry in the Hiking Topic Section isn't about a recent hike of mine. I'm hoping for cooler, fall-like weather soon to begin my fall, winter, and spring hiking season.

Instead, this article focuses on Dale Sanders, from Millington, Tennessee. At 91, he set the record again as the oldest hiker to complete the entire Appalachian Trail. I am impressed and inspired.

Yesterday, Dale Sanders Completed the Appalachian Trail

Early this morning, my wife and I happened to catch a local television news segment about Dale Sanders. For Knoxville area readers, a local news story is found at “91-year-old sets record for oldest person to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail.” WBIR-TV, by Emma Henson, 8/31/2026. The story and the two sources below include several photographs, which is why I didn't include one in this article.

Two additional noteworthy sources, which I found, are “At 91, Dale ‘Grey Beard’ Sanders reclaims record as oldest hiker to complete the Appalachian Trail.” Associated Press (AP) News, by Holly Ramer and Robert F. Bukaty, 8/31/2026, and “Dale 'Grey Beard' Sanders, 91, Becomes Oldest Person to Thru-Hike the Appalachian Trail.” The Trek, by Katie Jackson, 8/31/2026. I read both articles.

From the above sources, we learn that Dale Sanders was born in Kentucky in 1935. His wife, Meriam, and he are from Millington, Tennessee, which is near Memphis. Before retiring at 67 in 2002, Sanders served in the US Navy and afterward worked for 37 years in parks and recreation.

In 2017, at 82, Dale Sanders first set the record as the oldest hiker to complete the Appalachian Trail. A friend of his temporarily broke his initial record. Further, four years ago, at 87, Sanders became the oldest person to paddle the entire Mississippi River.

Yesterday, Dale Sanders completed his most recent hike of the entire Appalachian Trail. He started last year, on September 6, in West Virginia. Yesterday, he finished triumphantly atop Mount Katahdin in Maine. It was an almost 2,200-mile trek, completed in sections, which took him over 359 days. Sanders regained the record as the oldest hiker to complete the Appalachian Trail.

I Am Impressed and Inspired

To say that I am impressed and inspired is an understatement! During our senior year in high school (fall 1977-spring 1978), two friends, Bill and Randy, and I planned to hike the complete Appalachian Trail after graduation.

Unfortunately, we were out of school for the entire month of January. It snowed every week, usually on Wednesdays. To make up for the snow closures, our school days were extended, and we graduated later than we expected. Randy and I planned to start college in the fall. A complete hike of the Appalachian Trail would delay our plans. Bill, who later joined the Navy, wanted Randy and me to focus on hiking the Appalachian Trail and postpone college. We didn't. Bill, who didn't want to hike alone, was angry with us for a while, but he got over it. Looking back, I wish we had kept our plan.

Early this morning, when we heard the local television news clip about Dale Sanders, I said, “That could be me.” Will I live to be 91? Will I be physically fit to hike the Appalachian Trail? Dale Sanders has inspired the goal. We will see. Only the dear Lord knows my future.

Conclusion

Are Dale Sanders and his wife Christians, children of God? It seems so. A previously mentioned source states that Meriam, Dale's wife, is a member of a tight-knit Filipino church community in Millington. She conducts Bible studies and prays in her native language. Further, a source above mentions that Dale Sanders paused to pray at the sign at the summit of Mount Katahdin in Maine. He said, “I had to thank God, and I had to thank my support team and everybody that got me here.”

I would like to meet Dale Sanders, shake his hand, and talk with him for a while. He has certainly inspired me at 66 years young. If he and I don't meet in this life, I hope to meet him in heaven.

Are you hiking the heavenward trail, dear reader? If so, I look forward to meeting you up there one day. If not, you should be. There is only one trail that leads to everlasting life. Please take and stay on that Christian path. You are welcome to reach out to me by emailing me. Simply use the “Contact Form” on the main page of this website. I am just one heavenward hiker who wants to guide others along the trail.