The stops
1Narrows of the Harpeth
Kingston Springs, Cheatham County
Enslaved workers spent 1818 to 1820 cutting a tunnel 290 feet through the solid limestone of this ridge, so the Harpeth would drop through it and drive Montgomery Bell's iron forge on the far side. The Bluff Trail climbs a quarter mile, steeply, to a view of the Harpeth Valley, and the Tunnel Trail runs along the back of the bluff to the forge site, where a small waterfall is all that is left.
Both trails start at one trailhead by the lot: the Bluff Trail first, while legs are fresh, then the Tunnel Trail. Swimming and climbing at the forge pool are not allowed, and the bluff is slick when wet.
- Saturday
- 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in summer, 8 to 6 in October and March, and 8 to 4:30 in winter.
- Admission
- Free. No Tennessee state park charges an entrance fee.
- Booking
- No booking
Harpeth River State ParkIn our state parks guide
2Montgomery Bell State Park
Burns, Dickson County
The Cumberland Presbyterian Church was founded in 1810 near what is now the park's Group Camp 1, and a Black Civilian Conservation Corps company built its three lakes before the park opened in 1943. The Ore Pit Trail, a mile and a half, leads to what is left of the iron ore mining.
Start at the visitor center. Lake Woodhaven has been drained since August 31, 2026, for work on its dam and pipes, so the spillway is dry for now.
- Saturday
- The visitor center and park office, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; the state posts no gate hours.
- Admission
- Free. No Tennessee state park charges an entrance fee.
- Booking
- No booking
Tennessee State ParksIn our state parks guide
3The Restaurant at Montgomery Bell
Burns, Dickson County
The state's restaurant in the park inn, with a patio over Lake Acorn; shrimp and grits and house-made chips are the menu's staples, with Tennessee wines and spirits.
The inn is a short drive across the park, and the restaurant opens at 11.
- Saturday
- Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. It closes every year from mid-December through the first week of January.
- Admission
- A full-service restaurant; the menu is on its page.
- Booking
- No booking
The restaurant's page615-797-1600
4Loretta Lynn's Ranch
Hurricane Mills, Humphreys County
Loretta and Mooney Lynn found the place in 1966: a nineteenth-century house, a gristmill and the whole small town of Hurricane Mills. The guided tour takes in the house and a full-size copy of her childhood home in Butcher Holler, Kentucky, and the Coal Miner's Daughter Museum fills 18,000 square feet with her tour buses, gowns and handwritten lyrics.
The full ticket, tour and museum, is the one to buy. The tour takes in the house and the Butcher Holler replica and ends at the museum.
- Saturday
- The museum 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and guided tours 9:30 to 4, closed Monday and Tuesday; the ranch says hours can change without notice.
- Admission
- The guided tour or the museum, $20 each; both, $35. Children 10 and under free.
- Booking
- Tours are sold at the ranch; groups call the office for rates.
The ranch's tours page931-296-7700
Before you go
The loop runs from March through November. The restaurant at Montgomery Bell closes from mid-December through the first week of January, and a venue listing we could not confirm with the ranch says Loretta Lynn's closes from January 1 to March 1. In those months, call the ranch at 931-296-7700 before you go.
The ranch's own pages give two sets of museum hours, 10 to 4 and 9 to 5; the loop is timed to the shorter. FallJam, an off-road weekend, fills the ranch from October 22 to 25, 2026.
The Narrows closes at 4:30 in winter and 6 in October and March. The loop is there in the morning.
The last stop outdoors, Montgomery Bell State Park, ends at 11:20 a.m.. The earliest sunset there on a Saturday this loop runs is 4:35 p.m., on November 28, so the day's walking is done in daylight every week of the year it runs.
How we know
The timetable is worked out from the route and the time at each stop, and checked against every stop's Saturday hours and the sunset for every Saturday in the twelve months after the hours were read. The drive times are a router's, with no traffic: leave room.
- Narrows of the Harpeth. Tennessee State Parks, Harpeth River highlights; Tennessee State Parks, Harpeth River trails. Hours: as posted, read October 20, 2026.
- Montgomery Bell State Park. Tennessee State Parks, Montgomery Bell highlights; Tennessee State Parks, Montgomery Bell trails. Hours: as posted, read October 20, 2026.
- The Restaurant at Montgomery Bell. Tennessee State Parks, the restaurant. Hours: as posted, read October 20, 2026.
- Loretta Lynn's Ranch. Loretta Lynn's Ranch, tours; Loretta Lynn's Ranch, about the ranch. Hours: as posted, read October 20, 2026.
- Before you go. Tennessee State Parks, the restaurant at Montgomery Bell; Tennessee State Parks, Montgomery Bell alerts; Cvent, Loretta Lynn's Ranch (a venue listing, not confirmed); Loretta Lynn's Ranch, FallJam 2026; Tennessee State Parks, Harpeth River.
- The drive. Valhalla (valhalla1.openstreetmap.de) on OpenStreetMap, routed October 21, 2026.
- The photograph. The mill at Hurricane Mills, now on Loretta Lynn's Ranch, in 1940. Photo: Tennessee Valley Authority, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (National Archives)
All 8 loops
