Harpeth River State Park

The truth is that I’m not sure of the actual boundaries of this state park. The maps on the park’s website are a little confusing to me. It looks as though a whole stretch of the Harpeth River may actually be part of the park (i.e. a ‘blueway’ for canoeing or kayaking). But there are also segments of the park on dry land that are suitable for hikers.
I haven’t yet made it out to the parts of the park that are out in Kingston Springs and Dickson around the Narrows of the Harpeth (
) or the Mound Bottom archaeological site (
), but my wife and I did have a nice little hike around the Hidden Lake State Natural Area (
).
Noise pollution from the nearby highway and railroad keep this from being a truly pristine experience, but you can find plenty of space and solitude at Hidden Lake. We spent about 30 – 45 minutes hiking around and only came across three other people (and one dog). Most of the hiking is over relatively flat ground, although it looked like there was a steeper ‘ridge trail’ had we been inclined to push ourselves.
We also spotted five white-​tailed deer and got some close-​up views of the swift-​flowing Harpeth River that wreaked such havoc over Bellevue when it spilled over its banks last year.
The scenery isn’t terribly dramatic over most of the terrain we hiked, but it was neat to see the layers of rock in the cliffs alongside the river and surrounding the hidden lake itself.
The Warner Parks and Radnor Lake are both great parks, but if you’re looking for more solitude at a Nashville-​area park, Hidden Lake State Natural Area deserves your consideration and I imagine that the other further out portions of Harpeth River State Park are even more peaceful.