On Track

Wide-open spaces and a brilliant palette of fall color await you at the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. Straddling south-central Kentucky and north-central Tennessee, this 125,000-acre playground on the Cumberland Plateau displays some of the lushest scenery to be found in the region. But how best to see it? The answer is simple, fun, and even inexpensive. Head for the small town of Stearns, where coal once reigned supreme and a train still carries passengers.