Piney River (East Tennessee)

This article is about the river in East Tennessee. For the river in Middle Tennessee, see Piney River (Middle Tennessee).

The Piney River is a stream that drains a portion of Tennessee's Cumberland Plateau generally known as Walden Ridge. The Piney River rises near the Rhea County – Bledsoe County line and is referred to as Piney Creek in its upper reaches roughly until its confluence with Duskin Creek. Its major tributary, Little Piney Creek, flows over two spectacular waterfalls which are located in Piney Falls State Natural Area near the community of Grandview.^[3] A tributary of Little Piney Creek is Soak Creek, Tennessee's newest State Scenic River.^[4] The confluence of the two streams occurs below the falls of the smaller stream in an area referred to as "Shut-in Gap". The stream flows out of the gap and is bridged by State Route 68 just before that road begins its steep climb up the Cumberland Escarpment onto Waldens Ridge. The stream flows north of Spring City, Tennessee and becomes slack just east of the town at a headland of Watts Bar Lake, an impoundment of the Tennessee River formed by the Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar Dam project. The mouth of the Piney is one of the larger bays of Watts Bar Lake and contains several small islands.

Piney River
Upstream view from the Cumberland Trail bridge
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Confluence of Piney and Duskin Creeks
• elevation	~ 1,020 ft (310 m)[1]
Mouth
• location	Watts Bar Lake
• elevation	741 ft (226 m)[2]

The Cumberland Trail follows the Piney River.^[5]

Variant names

According to the Geographic Names Information System, Piney River has also been known historically as:^[6]

• Piney Creek
• Pine River

See also

• List of rivers of Tennessee

References

1. U.S. Geological Survey. Pennine quadrangle, TN. 1:24,000. 7.5 Minute Series. Washington D.C.: USGS, 1990.
2. U.S. Geological Survey. Spring City quadrangle, TN. 1:24,000. 7.5 Minute Series. Washington D.C.: USGS, 1990.
3. "Piney Falls Class II Natural-Scientific State Natural Area". Tennessee Natural Areas Program. Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
4. Colburn, Kevin (20 April 2016). "Soak Creek is Tennessee's Newest Scenic River". American Whitewater. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
5. Jamison, Frank. "Piney River Segment". Cumberland Trails Conference. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
6. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Piney River

35.65396°N 84.78300°W / 35.65396; -84.78300