Hiking – Page 4 – Seeing the Scenic City

Browns Ferry Federal Road Trail

I am counting down the days until cooler weather arrives, because I am looking forward to resuming hiking.

I have been Googling Chattanooga area hikes, and I am curating quite the list. It has been frustrating to discover all of these wonderful places, and know that it’s just not the best time to attempt a 3 mile hike.

This morning I was looking at hikes on Moccasin Bend. I found the Browns Ferry Federal Road Trail, and I got so excited about it, that we had to go right NOW.

The weather has been cooler all weekend because it has been raining on and off, and it was mostly cloudy, keeping the sun at bay. I had found the trail early in the morning, about 9:30, and convinced Derek to go. We were at the trail parking lot by 10 a.m.

The reason why I just couldn’t wait a few weeks is because the trail is a historic one, and I love history.

Browns Ferry Federal Road was a road in use since the early 1800s. A “trace” of the road on Moccasin Bend, as noted by signage on the trail, was discovered by LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), as well as the use of old maps. The trail opened up to the public in 2013.

In October 1863, the city of Chattanooga was under siege by the Confederates. The Union troops were starving, with no way to receive food supplies. The Union devised a plan to open up the supply line.

On Oct. 27, in the early morning hours, the Battle of Brown’s Ferry occurred.

Brig. Gen. William Hazen — fun fact, my last name is Hazen, no relation though, at least we think — commanded groups of men who floated down the Tennessee River in pontoon boats from the city of Chattanooga. They sailed around Moccasin Bend to the crossing site, Brown’s Ferry landing, which was in Confederate hands.

Sailing in the pre-dawn, they achieved the initial element of surprise and were able to cross the river, but were soon discovered by Confederate troops who fired upon them. Union troops were also waiting on the opposite bank (where we stood on the end of the trail) as reinforcements. Ultimately, the Union forces outnumbered the Confederates, who drew back to the south.

This allowed the Union to gain control of the road and open their supply line again. This supply line, and part of the battle became known as the “Cracker Line,” after the hardtack crackers that the soldiers ate.

It was exciting to stand there and picture the men coming up the river in the pontoon boats, as well as the man waiting in position on the shore, and imagine what they must have been thinking.

To see a map of the battle, and to read more about it, visit these two websites:

www.battlefields.org/learn/maps/browns-ferry-october-27-1863 and https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/fight-browns-ferry.

I own Jeff Shaara’s Civil War novels, one of which, The Smoke of Dawn, is about the Battle of Chattanooga. I have read them before, but not since moving here. I remember there being a chapter about the Cracker Line and the battle of Brown’s Ferry. I am looking forward to rereading this book again, even more so now.

In addition, Browns Ferry Federal Road was also an original segment of the Trail of Tears, or the removal of the Cherokee. This happened in 1838. The Cherokee also gathered around the same spot as the Union soldiers did, crossing the river.

The trail is a 1.2 mile out and back hike. It is mostly woodsy, with some open areas. We actually got lost. There was a section of the trail that looked like it went to the right, but it quickly became overgrown and it was obvious we went the wrong way. Looking at the AllTrails app put us back on the right track though.

It was a little muddy when we went, but that is probably because it has been raining all weekend. There are sections of the trail that have elevated boardwalks.

We saw some interesting flowers, butterflies, spider webs and even a couple of fresh deer prints. The trail ends at the river. A barge came through while we were there. We stayed there for a bit, enjoying the view, and imagining the history that occurred there.

Soldiering on through this pandemic summer

August has been a hard month. The running theme has been depression and anxiety.

Derek goes back to work next week at UTC and I am scared. Yes, everyone will be wearing masks in the classroom, but knowing that he’s going to be around more people worries me.

I’m worried about Derek getting COVID-19 because his immune system isn’t the greatest. If someone else is sick, he usually gets it. He’s had the gamut of illnesses. It should be noted that whenever Derek is sick, I never catch it from him, but COVID-19 feels like a different beast.

I am struggling with work. It was hard to start a job working remotely from home, and to still be stuck at home almost five months later. Currently I’m working through a big project, and there has been a lot of confusion surrounding it. My anxiety is already high from the pandemic, and I’m an anxious person by default. Couple that with the confusion of the project and still working from home, well, let’s just say I’ve been a mess. My confidence and self-esteem are down. I cry a lot and I’m not sleeping well because work follows me into my dreams at night.

And then there is the long lasting cabin fever. We are still doing smaller activities in general. In a sense, one could argue that I have fulfilling weekends. Today I took two separate walks, worked on my scrapbook, read and watched The Sound of Music. But it’s not the weekend I want.

We still go to parks. We’ve walked the Walnut Street Bridge. We still eat at some of our favorite coffee shops and restaurants, or at least the ones that have large enough outdoor seating areas. But the problem is that we’re not doing anything new. My Chattanooga to-do list is stagnant. This is what I was afraid of in March, which feels like a lifetime ago.

The one good thing to come out of staying at home is that I’ve been challenging myself to take more photos with my macro lens. As the seasons progress, there are different things to photograph. I will attach some of my photos below.

I’m counting down the days until September. I want fall to come. I don’t expect anything to automatically change when the days get cooler, but I just need something to feel different — even if it is only the temperature.

The pandemic is not the only thing that has halted our activities. The heat has done that too. The only things we can do safely are outdoor things. Derek doesn’t handle the heat as well as I do. It’s just better to stay inside and stay cool.

When fall comes, there are some things on my to-do list that can be crossed off. I am looking forward to picking apples at Wheeler’s Orchard in Dunlap, Tennessee. We will also go hiking at Cloudland Canyon State Park in Dade County, Georgia.

With September also comes my birthday. We were thinking of making a lunch reservation at The Cookie Jar Café, also in Dunlap. The family owned restaurant has a large porch with seating, and, specifically for the pandemic, they also set up extra picnic tables.

There are plenty of indoor things open now, but do we really want to do any of it? Everyone wearing masks does go a long way in keeping everyone safe, but it’s better to wait it out for now.

Booker T. Washington State Park

This morning we explored Booker T. Washington State Park, located on Chickamauga Lake. Booker T. Washington is the closest Tennessee State Park to Chattanooga.

Booker T. Washington has a few hiking trails to pick from. From what I’ve seen online, some of the longer ones are great for bicyclists. We picked the shorter Nature Trail, just over a mile long.

This was a nice trail. It is entirely wooded, and at times it runs along side the lake for a great view. The trail is a little rocky and covered with tree roots, so be careful and make sure you watch where you step!

The start of the trail is near the recreation area, where we hung out for a bit, enjoying the scenery. I am jealous of anyone who owns a boat or a kayak! We even saw a seaplane! It was a perfect morning for being out on the water.

Booker T. Washington State Park8 — At the edge of one of the recreation areas. There are pavilions, picnic tables and a playground.

Booker T. Washington State Park28 — A fishing pier.

Booker T. Washington State Park11 — I’ll take this boat, please. Or I’ll settle for being friends with these people!

Booker T. Washington State Park30 — Some really nice houses! Which one would you prefer to live in?

Booker T. Washington State Park33 — An orange seaplane flies over the lake.

Chickamauga National Military Park

I love Civil War history, so a visit to Chickamauga National Military Park was a must. My co-workers had said that the park had opened back up, and they had enjoyed their time there.

Let me just say … the beginning of our visit was a disaster! One co-worker told us about these trail maps that had questions that corresponded with the monuments and sites, almost like a scavenger hunt.

We printed one out for the General Bragg Trail and on Saturday morning, we set off. And we immediately got lost. So lost in fact, that we walked half a mile out of our way, one mile round-trip. Not to mention that Derek had already drank all of his water. So we went back to the car, bought a 24-pack of water and more snacks at a grocery store at the entrance of the park and started again. And we got lost again … and again.

It made me feel really stupid, especially because my co-worker had done that exact trail a week before, and she said the map with the turn by turn directions really helped her. What were we missing? We saw the marker for the trail where it started, but then we immediately lost the trail after the first monument.

There was a lot of arguing and a few tears that threatened to come out, but we managed to salvage the day. Eventually we just gave up on trying to find the General Bragg Trail, and we got into our car and saw everything by driving around.

The park is beautiful and easy enough to get around (unless you’re like us and can’t read a map apparently). There were a lot of interesting monuments with beautiful relief details. I enjoyed seeing the different cabins, some that were turned into on-site hospitals.

We were there all morning, and we only saw about half of the park. I would like to come back and explore more. Plus, the Visitor’s Center was closed, so I’d like to see that next time.

The Battle of Chickamauga was fought September 18–20, 1863. The Union lost, but they retreated to Chattanooga, where they would win a series of battles in November.

Big Soddy Creek Gulf

I have checked off another hiking trail off my to-do list! Derek and I hiked Big Soddy Creek Gulf in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, which is about 20 minutes north of where we live.

We arrived at 9 a.m. to avoid the crowds. We did come across a few people, but the trail was wide, so it was easy to keep our distance. We actually forgot our face masks at home, but this ended up not being an issue, thankfully.

The entire trail is about 5 miles, out and back, but the most popular part is the beginning, 1.25 miles along a flat, gravel road that follows the creek and opens up to swimming holes along the way. We couldn’t have gone further even if we had wanted to, because a wooden bridge was damaged and unusable, perhaps from the storm and tornado we had in April?

The other side of the trail features interesting rock formations and a water fall about a mile in. When we were there it was only a trickle, but I am sure it is gushing after a heavy rain.

The trail also features a lot of picnic tables along the way (we made use of these) and there is signage indicating how far you have walked.

A highlight for me was finding lots of clusters of Mountain Laurel, which is the Pennsylvania state flower. I had lived in Pennsylvania for about 10 years, and yet I had only seen the flower in the wild once.

This is really nice trail, and I might consider coming back in the summer to go swimming. The water is really clear and cold!

We were finished and heading back to the car at about 10:30 a.m., at the same time the trail started to fill up. Hopefully more trails will open in the future, and we can continue to properly social distance by arriving early as we did today.

Quarry trail at Greenway Farms

After being closed for about a month, parks are starting to open back up in Chattanooga.

Yesterday was a warm, sunny day, so we went to Greenway Farms to check out a trail that goes around an old quarry. The quarry is flooded out now, and — even though swimming is supposedly prohibited — people use the area as a swimming hole.

The only problem with it being a beautiful spring day was that everyone else had the same idea we had.

When we first pulled into the parking lot, Derek almost wanted to back out of the plan because there were so many cars, but most of those people were hanging out in the open green area or walking their dogs.

Once we got on the trail itself, it wasn’t too bad. However, I was disappointed with the lack of mask wearers. Derek and I wore masks, and only three other people that we saw wore them too. We did our best to social distance ourselves from others, but at times it was impossible. During pandemic times, people need more spacial awareness.

Part of the trail leads to the bottom of the quarry, where people go swimming. The closer we got down to the end, the more people there were. I wanted to snap a few quick pictures, and Derek stayed behind. There were three other couples there at the time, and they were all spaced apart. I took my pictures, when I turned around to see no less than 10 kids running down the path. It was actually frightening! They were all there to go swimming. I hope they will all be okay and do not get sick from each other.

We took an upper trail that goes around the quarry. We had that trail to ourselves. I am glad that second trail was an option otherwise we probably would have cut our time short.

Despite the issues that we had to work around, it was a beautiful trail. I am glad we went.

However, I think we’re going to run into the same problem that we dealt with last month. Everyone flocks to the parks because that’s the only thing there is left to do, but then the parks are crowded and therefore not safe. With Chattanooga being a mostly outdoor activity city, most of the things on my to-do list are park related.

Greenway Farms is the only place that has reopened so far out of everything on my list. Nothing else is ready to be opened yet, and after our experience at the quarry trail, that is fine by me.

Greenway Farm Quarry Trail46 — The top of the quarry cliff looking down into the swimming hole.

Greenway Farm Quarry Trail34 — Some of the trail was quite rocky and we had to be careful with our footing.

Greenway Farm Quarry Trail36 — The Chickamauga Creek down below.

Green Gorge Park

Derek and I have exhausted all of the walkable areas in our neighborhood. Last weekend we decided to drive somewhere random, to be able to walk in a new, different neighborhood. We found something even better, a small trail.

We drove up to Signal Mountain and parked in a CVS parking lot. We walked two blocks to Green Gorge Park, a skinny, but long trail. Even though there are houses and main roads on all sides, the trail is heavily wooded, so it makes you feel like you are miles from civilization.

The park is a long loop, almost 2 miles long, and passes next to Shoal Creek. There are two bridges crossing the creek on either sides (one of them is a swinging bridge, and there is a bridge in the middle. We took the middle bridge, so we only did one half of the trail.

It was relaxing to walk along side the creek, which formed small rapids and waterfalls. There was a lot of greenery and wildflowers. We even came upon a friendly cat!

One of my goals for living in Chattanooga is to hike as much as possible, so I am glad we found this small trail that we previously were not aware of.

Click to play video.