29 September: The Backbone Rock Recreation Area, in Tennessee’s Cherokee National Forest, has a small campground, a picnic area, and short hiking trails for exploring this interesting feature. Backbone Rock is a “spur fin” jutting out from the lower slope of Holston Mountain toward Beaverdam Creek. It forms a wall of solid rock with vertical sides, much taller than it is thick. A hiking trail climbs up one side of it, along the narrow and flat top, and down the other side. The trail and some of the structures in the picnic area were built by the CCC, which is evident from the attractive and well-built stone steps in the steep sections of the trail. There is a small loop trail under hemlocks and rhododendrons nearby that passes by Backbone Falls in a small tributary stream feeding into Beaverdam Creek. There is also a trail branching off from the Backbone Rock Trail to ascend Holston Mountain to a junction with the Appalachian Trail.
In addition to the natural beauty of Backbone Rock, it is also interesting for the tunnel that was blasted and drilled through it in 1901 to provide railroad access for mining and lumbering south of Damascus, Va. Manganese ore, iron ore, and timber were transported from Crandull and Shady Valley down the Beaverdam Creek valley to Damascus. After those resources had been exhausted, this area became part of the national forest and the former rail corridor was converted to the auto road that uses the tunnel today. This tunnel is said to be the shortest tunnel in the world.
