KINGSPORT, Tenn. — A new campground in Kingsport lets you sleep under the stars and in the air.
You'll do that in a hammock at Tennessee's first hammock-only campground.
"Put a hammock in the tree and a rain fly up and that's it. You don't have to have tent poles or things like that, it's a lot lighter weight way to experience nature," said Sarah Leedy.
Leedy is the Park Manager at Warriors' Path State Park in Kingsport, home to the new Cedar Ridge Hammock Campground.
"I've camped here twice myself and I really enjoyed it," she said.
Leedy said hammock camping is popular right now.
This campground allows up to 72 hammocks to hang under the stars at five sites all next to each other.
"We opened it to the public in April of this year, and we've had at least somebody in here every weekend since," said Leedy.
You can camp by yourself, bring a friend or even an entire scout troop.
"You have to bring your own hammock," said Leedy. "If you're in the neighborhood and you think, 'I would really like to try hammock camping,' in our camp store we'll sell you everything you need. "
A lot of work and innovation went into building the site, using parts of the state park itself.
"We had a winter storm in 2018 that broke or killed nearly every cedar tree in the park," said Leedy.
Those trees are now hammock posts, filed down and sealed with a weather protectant coat.
Old grill handles are now screwed into the posts to hang lanterns.
"This project, the Cedar Ridge hammock area, won Excellence in Innovation in Tennessee State Parks for 2021," said Leedy. "That's a big deal."
Warriors' Path State Park is about an hour and a half drive away from Knoxville.
"Every Tennessean lives within a two hour drive of a Tennessee State Park so you know, we're here for y'all," said Leedy.
Reservations are required and can be made online.