Vol. 1 — No. 7Weekend Episode · Thu–Sun, Jul 30–Aug 2, 2026 · South Knoxville, TN★ soknoear.com
Vol. 1 — No. 7 · Jul 30–Aug 2★ soknoear.com
The South Knoxville Ear — We Hear Things.
What’s Happening ThursdayWhat’s Happening FridayWhat’s Happening SaturdayWhat’s Happening Sunday
See
JUL
30
Open-water river swim
6 PM · Suttree Landing Park
JUL
30
Merry Wives — pay-what-you-can
7:30 PM · Ijams Park
JUL
31
Back to School Bash
11 AM–3 PM · Kern's
JUL
31
Brian Clay Gruuv Series
7 PM · Kern's
JUL
31
Andrew Broschart at Trailhead
Trailhead Beer Market · 1317 Island Home Ave
AUG
1
Tree ID workshop
9:30 AM · Ijams Park
AUG
1
EcoArt: Ecosystem Explorers
3 PM · Ijams Park
AUG
2
Bird Banding
7:30 AM · Ijams Park
AUG
13
Kerbela hearing (ARC)
The bluff gets its date
Urban WildernessThuFriSatSun

Your Urban Wilderness weekend — trail report checked this morning

Baker Creek Bike Park is riding well, the Preserve needs a day to dry, and the club that builds it all just hired its first full-time trail crew. Plus: where the beer is when you roll out of the woods.

Sixty miles, out the back door
Go ride
Baker Creek Bike Park · Marie Myers (Year Round Get Down)
Muddy
Baker Creek Preserve — give it a dry day
Heads up
Campground Connector at Marie Myers partially closed
Afterwards
Trailhead Beer Market, 1317 Island Home Ave
Fri Jul 31
Andrew Broschart live at Trailhead
In the river
Open-water swim · Thu 6 PM · Suttree Landing Park

Seven issues in, it's time we gave the woods themselves the front page. The Urban Wilderness — roughly sixty miles of trail strung through South Knoxville's back yard — is having a good week, and we checked the conditions board the morning this published so you don't ride into a mudhole.

The trail report

The report, per the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club: Baker Creek Bike Park is riding well, and Marie Myers Park's Year Round Get Down trails are open — with one caveat, a temporary partial closure of the Campground Connector, though every trail on that side is still reachable. Baker Creek Preserve is the one to skip until it dries; riding muddy trail is how good berms die, and somebody hand-built every one of them.

The people who build it

About that somebody: the club just hired its first full-time trail crew member, which means the singletrack you ride free of charge now has a professional looking after it — and registration is open for the fall Trail Blazers program, which puts third-through-fifth graders on bikes in these same woods.

After the ride

And when you do roll out of the trees, dusty and pleased with yourself, the neighborhood has thought of that too. Trailhead Beer Market sits at 1317 Island Home Ave — self-described as the beer market in the back yard of the Urban Wilderness — and there are worse ways to end a ride than a cold one on that porch while the legs stop humming. They generally open at three on weekdays and one on weekends; their Facebook is the source of truth, or ring 865-409-4058. And this Friday the porch comes with a soundtrack — Andrew Broschart plays Trailhead on the 31st, per the market's own feed. If you'd rather be in the water than on the dirt, the open-water swimmers meet Thursday at six at Suttree Landing Park for their weekly river swim. Sixty miles of trail, a river, and a front porch at the end of it. That's the whole pitch for living here.

Top Stories & Events

More From This Weekend

★ Got an event? Tell The Ear

Know about something happening around SoKno — an event, an opening, neighborhood news? Send it our way and we'll put it in the Ear.

Send things in often? Become a verified submitter to review drafts of your items before they run.

The Ear sees the future

Know something before it happens?

SoKnoEar.com has a phone number!Call 865-252-6500 with your event, news, or food/drink special.

Know about a show, a pop-up, a grand opening, a drink special? Call or text it in. A realtime AI assistant answers 24/7, takes the details in one quick conversation, and the city desk takes it from there. No forms, no waiting.

865-252-6500 · always listening