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Following this incredible hike around a scenic mountain lake you might think twice about your next visit to the woods!!
| Travel back in time on trails trodden by the earliest frontier explorers with a chilling presentation of never before presented Bigfoot research coordinated to the Native American flute and drum. Indulge in the mystery and intrigue of what has become known about this elusive and mysterious primate through twenty-six years of indepth investigation. Thrill to details of on-site studies where the Tennessee |
| Bigfoot has actually been encountered. You'll hike the same trails where Native Americans once roamed this vast and untamed frontier hearing more than five hundred years of their folklore, history, and legend. Perhaps, you'll |  |
 | catch a glimpse of the fabled, but never yet proven to exist "black panther", other strange and rarely seen native animals, or... Perhaps |
| you will see something else!!! You never know, so don't forget to bring your camera as it never hurts to be prepared in our search for the Cherokee, or Tennessee Bigfoot of |  |
| Southern Appalachia. Whether it is personal curiosity about Bigfoot, or your very own Bigfoot and Cryptozoological experiences which fuel the desire to attend, your guide will endeavor to put you in a perfect state of mind for new discoveries and new paradigms regarding all things Bigfoot from all across North America, coast to coast! Come discover the World's 1st fully dedicated Sasquatch Research and Adventure Tour, ongoing since 2004!!! |
The Cherokee Bigfoot Adventure Tour Departs From:
Nature Center, 853 Bays Mountain Park Rd, Kingsport 37760
| Appalachian GhostWalks' "Cherokee Bigfoot Adventure" afternoon 'Novelty Tour' operates year-round. Tickets for this tour are not available at Bays Mountain Park. Advance reservations online with a minimum of two participants in your party are required to reserve as follows... |
March through October  RESERVE NOW
Afternoon Novelty Cherokee Bigfoot Adventure Tours Begin at 2 PM DST |
November through February RESERVE NOW
Afteroon Novelty Cherokee Bigfoot Adventure Tours Begin at 1 PM EST |
| Tours and dates are booked on a first come first served basis so it's a good idea to reserve your date as soon as possible. Keep in mind that if you book a tour and need to change the date, or even postpone your tour indefintely, you may do so as often as needed without limits, or change fees for up to one year from the date of purchase. By reserving your tour in advance, you're worry free knowing you will have the tour and date of choice for you and your travel companion, family, or tour group. |
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Here Are a Few Reviews From Past Tour Guests
My husband and I are from New York and did the Cherokee bigfoot adventure tour!! I WOULD give our guide Stacey 10 Stars if I could! He was wonderful, very informative and knowledgeable!!! Stacey was very friendly, great stories, and had a wonderful sense of humor!! You should go on this tour and you will see the passion he has for this you will not be disappointed! We had a wonderful time you get more than your money's worth! - Theresa Musiak
Beautifully surrounded! Bigfoot Adventure!! Great!!! Although Hurricane Delta followed us from Mississippi, Stacey and his team were so accomodating to our group of 17. The adventure was full of stories as well as beautiful landscape. We all had such a wonderful time. Nine of our seventeen were under the age of eleven and boy did he truly have their attention. My husband and I were so enjoying the mystery on their faces as Stacey explained the unexplainable, priceless. Thank you again for everything! - Mississippi Sasquatch Search Squad
My daughter and I have had the best day! While we did not officially see Bigfoot, she and I learned valuable information for our next hunt. We also learned you don't find Bigfoot, Bigfoot finds you! Our tour guide, Stacey McGee, from Appalachian Ghost Tours was phenomenal and knew facts only someone with first hand experience would know! We loved the tour and him. We will be back for other tours he offers. - Robin Mundy
I have always been a fan of Bigfoot and for my birthday my Mom booked the Bigfoot Tour. I went in thinking that it would be a fun tourist trap. The tour was beyond anything I would of expected. Stacey was very informative and had information that could only be learned from first hand experience. I would highly recommended any of the tours Appalachian GhostWalks has to anyone. I plan on coming back with friends and family! - Taylor Mundy
These are just a few of the many kind words expressed by our past guests. Read hundreds of other testimonials on the Guest Review page of our site. Many thanks to our wonderful past guests who we have toured with for more than twenty years. We appreciate you sending us your gracious feedback. We hope to see you again soon for another simply SPOOK-tacular good time!!! |
A Brief History of Bays Mountain Park and Planetarium
| Bays Mountain Park is a 3,750 acres (15.2 km2) nature park and planetarium located on Bays Mountain in Kingsport, Tennessee. Opened in 1971, it features a 44 acre lake, over 40 miles of hiking trails, a nature center with a planetarium theater, fire tower, and animal habitats. Its nature center and outdoor native animal displays include bobcats, a raptor center and gray wolves, among other exhibits. There is also a herpetarium housing reptiles and amphibians. |
| The park also features an educational pontoon boat ride attraction that runs through the Bays Mountain Reservoir, called the Barge Ride. Other activities include hiking, orienteering, mountain biking, camping, and fishing. There is also the Steadman Heritage Farmstead Museum, a 19th-century period living history farm museum. In 2017, the Pavilion at Lily Pad Cove was added for events rentals and special events and in 2019, 75 extra parking spots were added to alleviate peak season parking issues. It is the largest city-owned park in Tennessee. |
| Wolves of Bays Mountain: Since 1992, Bays Mountain has been home to a pack of gray wolves. The current pack consists of eight wolves, four male and four female. Seven of those came to the park in 2014 and 2015 and the eighth has been there since 2007, making her the oldest wolf in park history. This is one of the few places a visitor can experience an actual wolf pack dynamic and behavior. Most places only have two or three wolves together. Bays Mountain is a ridge of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, located in East Tennessee. It runs southwest to northeast, from just south of Knoxville to Kingsport. |
| GEOGRAPHY: The southern segment of Bays Mountain is relatively low in elevation (up to about 1,300 feet (396.2 m)). In some places it essentially merges with the surrounding plains, especially where it is bisected by the French Broad River and the Nolichucky River. The northern segment of Bays Mountain reaches higher elevations, averaging above 2,000 feet (609.6 m) with peaks reaching up to 3,000 feet (914.4 m). It is not a single ridge but rather a series of closely related ridges, some of which have names of their own (e.g., Fodderstack, Lost, Stone, Browns). The highest peak is Chimneytop Mountain (3,117 feet (950.1 m)), a spur ridge south of the main Bays Mountain ridge. |
| Bays Mountain runs just south of the Holston River, which flows northeast to southwest. At Kingsport the Holston River curves east and south at the confluence of its three tributary forks that flow from Virginia to the northeast. Bays Mountain ends abruptly at this curve of the Holston River. Kingsport is on the north side of the river, across from the northern terminus of Bays Mountain, where two ridges meet in a "V" with an impounded lake between the ridges. |
| HISTORY: Bays Mountain is named after two Bays brothers who settled in southwest Virginia in Russell and Scott counties around 1780. Bays Mountain Park is a 3,550-acre (14.4 km2) nature park located on Bays Mountain in Kingsport. The park includes a planetarium, live native animal displays, a nature center, 19th-century living farm museum and adventure course. |
| Kingsport is a city in Sullivan and Hawkins counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It lies along the Holston River and had a population of 55,442 at the 2020 census. It is the largest city in the Kingsport–Bristol metropolitan area, which had 307,613 residents in 2020. The metro area is a component of the larger Tri-Cities region of Tennessee and Virginia, with a population of 508,260 in 2020. Kingsport was chartered in 1822. The city's name is a simplification of King's Port, originally referring to the area on the Holston River known as King's Boat Yard, the head of navigation for the Tennessee Valley. Kingsport is commonly included in what is known as the "Mountain Empire" in southwest Virginia and northeastern Tennessee. |
| HISTORY: Yancey's Tavern was an important stagecoach stop for travelers in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Kingsport was developed after the Revolutionary War, at the confluence of the North and South Forks of the Holston River. In 1787 it was known as "Salt Lick" for an ancient mineral lick. It was first settled along the banks of the South Fork, about a mile from the confluence. The Long Island of the Holston River is near the confluence, which is mostly within the present-day corporate boundaries of Kingsport. The island was an important site for the Cherokee, colonial pioneers and early settlers, and specifically mentioned in the 1770 Treaty of Lochaber. |
| Early settlements at the site were used as a staging ground for other pioneers who were traveling overland on the Wilderness Road leading to Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap. First chartered in 1822, Kingsport became an important shipping port on the Holston River. Goods originating for many miles around from the surrounding countryside were loaded onto barges for the journey downriver to the Tennessee River at Knoxville. |
| In the Battle of Kingsport (December 13, 1864) during the Civil War, a force of 300 Confederates under Colonel Richard Morgan stopped a larger Union force for nearly two days. An army of over 5,500 troops under command of Major General George Stoneman had left Knoxville to raid Confederate targets in Virginia: the salt works at Saltville, the lead works at Wytheville, and the iron works in Marion. While Col. Morgan's small band held off a main Union force under Major General Cullem Gillem on the opposite side the Holston River, Union Col. Samuel Patton took a force of cavalry to a ford in the river 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north and came down behind the Confederates. Out-numbered, out-flanked, and demoralized by the bitter winter weather, Col. Morgan surrendered. The Confederates suffered 18 dead, and 84 prisoners of war were sent to a Union prison in Knoxville. |
| On September 12, 1916, Kingsport residents demanded the death of circus elephant Mary (an Asian elephant that performed in the Sparks World-famous Shows Circus). She had killed city hotel worker Walter Eldridge, who was hired by the circus the day before as an assistant elephant trainer. Eldridge was attacked and killed by the elephant while he was leading her to a pond. The elephant was impounded by the local sheriff. Leaders of several nearby towns threatened to prevent the circus from performing if it included the elephant. The circus owner, Charlie Sparks, reluctantly decided that the only way to quickly resolve the situation was to hold a public execution. On the following day, she was transported by rail to Erwin, Tennessee, where a crowd of over 2,500 people assembled in the Clinchfield Railroad yard to watch her hang from a railroad crane. |
| Re-chartered in 1917, Kingsport was an early example of a "garden city". Part of it was designed by city planner and landscape architect John Nolen of Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was nicknamed as the "Model City" from this plan, which organized the town into areas for commerce, churches, housing and industry. Most of the land on the river was devoted to industry. Most of the Long Island is now occupied by Eastman Chemical Company, which is headquartered in Kingsport. As part of this plan, Kingsport built some of the earliest traffic circles (roundabouts) in the United States. |
| Into the 1950s, two important public works projects were constructed: the Boone Dam and the Fort Patrick Henry Dam, hydroelectric dams built along the South Fork Holston River. Kingsport was among the first municipalities to adopt a city manager form of government, to professionalize operations of city departments. It developed its school system based on a model promoted by Columbia University. Pal's Sudden Service, a regional fast-food restaurant chain, opened its first location in 1956 and is headquartered in Kingsport. In 2001, Pal's Sudden Service, won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, becoming the first restaurant company to receive the award. |
| GEOGRAPHY: Kingsport is located in western Sullivan County at the intersection of U.S. Routes 11W and 23. Kingsport is the northwest terminus of Interstate 26. The city is bordered to the west by the town of Mount Carmel, to the southeast by unincorporated Colonial Heights, and to the northeast by unincorporated Bloomingdale. The Kingsport city limits extend west into Hawkins County and north to the Virginia border. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 50.8 square miles (131.5 km2), of which 49.8 square miles (129.0 km2) are land and 0.93 square miles (2.4 km2), or 1.86%, are water. Most of the water area is in the South Fork Holston River. |
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