Brighten Your Day With A Sunflower Hike In Forks Of The River WMA, One Of The Parks In Knoxville’s Urban Wilderness

Gather up the kids to experience the gorgeous sunflowers at Forks of the River WMA in Knoxville’s Urban Wilderness. Over 70 acres of fields are planted and it is an explosion of yellow not to be missed. It is one of my favorite things to do in summer in Knoxville and our family has been going for years. Gorgeous and free? What’s not to love?!

This awesome display of color occurs on even numbered years during the month of July and is one of the most spectacular photo opportunities in Knoxville. It is really a fun and unique outing with the kiddos. People come from all around to walk, bike, post Instagram shots, and paint these beautiful flowers.

*The sunflowers used to be planted on odd- numbered years but like so many things, the schedule appears to have changed since COVID.

The sunflower fields are found in the Forks of the River Wildlife Management Area (WMA), one of the 9 recreational areas that make up the Urban Wilderness in South Knoxville.

Forks of the River is just across the river from downtown Knoxville and easily reachable by car. It is adjacent to Ijams Nature Center, which is the most well known of the parks in the Urban Wilderness. The fields are 10 minutes from downtown Knoxville and 20 minutes from West Town Mall.

The name reflects the fact that the land borders where 2 forks – the Holston River and the French Broad River- meet to form the Tennessee River.

Although its 331 acres are primarily used for hunting from September to May, Forks of the River WMA also contains a portion of the paved Will Skelton Greenway that runs through South Knoxville as well as several mountain biking trails which are open year-round. And of course, the famous sunflower fields.

As you can see in the map below, Forks of the River is close to Ijams Nature Center as well as to the restaurants on Sevier Avenue in South Knoxville. The sunflowers are located at the northern part of Forks of the River (see my pretty icons?) so use the parking area located there.

With so many acres, this is the largest number of sunflowers I have ever seen in one place. You can walk for an hour before you see them all.

The kids love to walk between the rows of these tall, tall flowers and are always fascinated by a flower taller than them. It is difficult to take a bad photo here, and your hardest moment might be weeding through the multitude of photos you will take to find just 1 (or 10) to post.

The sunflower fields are close to so many other fun activities found in South Knoxville. Visit Ijams Nature Center just up the road, rent a paddleboard at nearby Mead’s Quarry, bike the entire 3.6 mile Will Skelton Greenway, or bring your kayak/ SUP and cool off on the Tennessee River from the boat launch at Ijams or Suttree Landing Park.

You’ll also find playgrounds close by at Bakers Creek Preserve and at Suttree Landing Park. After a morning of fun, grab lunch and enjoy the South Knoxville vibe at SoKno Taco or the amazing pizza at South Coast Pizza. Sevier Avenue is about a 10 minute drive away and has a couple of good restaurants and several great breweries.

Click on the link to find out our favorite places to eat near the Urban Wilderness in South Knoxville, including restaurants, kid- friendly breweries and taprooms, and coffee shops. It’s an up and coming trendy destination in Knoxville, so there are lots of fun and interesting places!

Two parking areas are listed for Forks of the River WMA, but you want the one on McClure Lane. This is the gravel parking area nearest to Mead’s Quarry and Ijams Nature Center. The other parking area is in the southern half of the park, pretty far away from the sunflowers, and is mostly used by mountain bikers.

After you pass Mead’s Quarry on Island Home Avenue, turn left onto McClure Lane. Stay on that road even when it narrows to almost one lane as it goes by some houses. You will see the gates across the road marking the entrance to Forks of the River and here you detour left down to the official parking area.

The map and pictures below should help you find the parking area for Forks of the River.

Pro Tip: Don’t park in the yards of the houses on McClure Lane even if the parking lot is busy. Shockingly, the people there don’t like that so much!

The sunflowers are in bloom during the whole month of July but only during even-numbered years. TWRA staggers the planting so at least one field is always blooming during the whole month. I think mid-month is the best, but whatever works for your schedule.

Because the sunflowers drain the fields of nitrogen, they have to rotate the crops every year. There were no sunflowers in 2023 so look for their return in 2024!

As long or as little as you want. I would say plan on about an hour to do a big loop around the fields. But you can also pop out of your car, see the fields closest to the parking lot, and be done in 20 minutes. The best fields are a bit farther away though, so spend an hour if you can- the sunflowers only happen every other year!

There aren’t any bathrooms in Forks of the River, so use the toilets at the Visitor Center at Ijams or at Mead’s Quarry on your way there.

FREE! All of the parks in the Urban Wilderness are free to use.

This lollipop loop hike is about 2 miles long and takes about an hour to walk. It combines several trails- Wyatt Way, Dozer, and the Will Skelton greenway, as well as an unmarked trail along a field.

From the parking area, walk out to the nearest field where TWRA (Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency) spells out their acronym in sunflowers. You can see the letters on Google Maps aerial view above.

You can’t really see the TWRA letters until you climb the hill up to Wyatt Way, a wide gravel road closed to cars. This is the trail behind the yellow gate that you saw when you drove into the parking area. From Wyatt Way, you can make out the TWRA letters better.

Walk east on Wyatt Way, away from the parking lot, past more sunflower fields until you come to a fork.

From the fork, I like to go left on Dozer Trail and take that to the Will Skelton Greenway. Take a right on the greenway, walking along with the river on your left, still heading east, until you pass the actual “Forks of the River”, where the Holston and French Broad meet to form the Tennessee River.

Continue up the Will Skelton Greenway along the French Broad River. This section is mostly wooded and you won’t see many sunflowers but the shade is a nice break and it is fairly flat.

When you pop out of the woods and find yourself next to a field again, turn right to take the dirt track along the left side of the field there. This track will bring you back to Dozer Trail.

Along this field are some of the best sunflower fields in my opinion. You are walking west as you follow this track so all of the sunflowers are facing you and the fields stretch out for acres so I think my most outstanding photos are from this section.

Fun Factoid- Mature sunflowers face east, only the young flowers track the sun throughout the day.

Once you get back to the intersection of Dozer Trail and Wyatt Way, just walk back to the parking area along Wyatt Way.

***If you get to the very end of the paved Will Skelton Greenway, you have walked too far but not by much. Just walk back to the last field you passed and take the dirt track next to it.

Bring Bug Spray

I am a mosquito magnet so I always carry bug spray in my car or in my bag. But you will want to bring some even if you aren’t particularly prone to bites. This is summer in East Tennessee after all.

Go Early!

Again, this is July in East Tennessee.

We have gone to see the sunflowers as an afternoon outing and while one hour in 90 degree weather is doable, the kids were a little over it by the end. It is more fun to walk around as a late morning outing followed by lunch at South Coast Pizza or an afternoon on the water at Mead’s Quarry.

Make Sure You Have Room On Your Phone For Photos

Every step seems to lend itself to a new amazing vista of yellow, and I especially like to experiment with my focal length, getting up close and personal with these flowers. Mostly, it is a chance to finally use all those fancy settings on my phone’s camera.

Final Thoughts

If it is July in an even numbered year in Knoxville, then make sure to get out to see the sunflowers at Forks of the River in the Urban Wilderness at least once during the month to admire this spectacular display. There is just something about sunflowers that puts everyone in a better mood!

Happy Trails! – Amanda