One mountain, three states, and a whole lot to see.
Lookout Mountain is not actually a mountain. It’s more of a ridge on the southernmost part of the Cumberland Plateau. It extends from Tennessee, through Georgia, to Alabama, over 90 miles. (For reference, this is the best map I could find.) Lookout Mountain contains several parks and tourist attractions. I explored a few.
Starting off with Cloudland Canyon State Park in Georgia. The canyon was created by water from a couple of streams higher up on Lookout Mountain.
Jana Irving It’s a very scenic canyon.
Jana Irving The morning started out a bit foggy.
Jana Irving I headed down the Waterfalls Trail. It was mostly stairs. A lot of stairs.
Jana Irving Cherokee Falls. This waterfall alone made the climb back up to the top of the gorge worth it.
Jana Irving Hemlock Falls. This one was a bit difficult to get any closer to it without slipping and dying.
Now heading up to the northernmost point of Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Jana Irving On the top of Lookout Mountain, overlooking Chattanooga, is Point Park, part of Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park.
Jana Irving Point Park is a 10 acre memorial park. There are a bunch of memorials, the New York Peace Memorial being the largest.
Jana Irving It’s also a great place to get a view. Or so I have been told.
Jana Irving I took the Bluff Trail from Point Park. It wasn’t the most exciting trail, but at least there was fog.
Jana Irving Sunset Rock has a bit of a view, of warehouses. It probably was once nice.
Jana Irving I went back to Point Park after the hike to finally see the view.
One of the top tourist attractions in Chattanooga is Ruby Falls, which features a 90 ft. tall waterfall. This is definitely a show cave. There’s colored lighting and they cram way to many people in there (and I was in a really small group). The pace was go really fast and then stop for a while just for another group to pass. On the other hand, the cave was still really neat.
Jana Irving There is no natural entrance to the Ruby Falls Cave. It was found only because a guy was trying to find another entrance to a cave that sits lower in elevation. Pictured is the original height of the passageway to the falls. A taller walkway was created to allow access for the general public.
Jana Irving The cave features some interesting cave formations like these stalagmites.
Jana Irving The Chrystal Chandelier and the Totem Pole.
Jana Irving A whole lot of flowstone.
Jana Irving The Leaning Tower.
Jana Irving And there it is, Ruby Falls.
Now down to Alabama. I stayed at DeSoto State Park. It has this wonderful waterfall.
Jana Irving Part of DeSoto Falls. Not sure why there was a super small reservoir behind it.
Jana Irving The big drop of the waterfall from the picnic area.
Jana Irving You can take a trail to get a full view.
Next up is another canyon that bisects Lookout Mountain, Little River Canyon National Preserve. There isn’t a ton to this park but the areas I did visit was lovely.
Jana Irving Little River Canyon as seen from a bridge. Not seen from here, the waterfall.
Jana Irving There’s a small cascade near the bridge.
Jana Irving There it is, Little River Falls.
Jana Irving A bit of a closer look.
Jana Irving Little Falls is super easy to reach from a paved/boardwalk pathway and then a hiking trail. The Little Falls Trail is a super easy trail (except for all the rocks) until the very end, where gets a bit steep.
Jana Irving A little cascade.
Jana Irving Very scenic again.
Jana Irving Little Falls. It is easy to walk out to see it in the river, unless the water is high.
The preserve has a scenic drive that was interesting. The road is very curvy and has a lot of up and downs. I made a wrong turn somewhere and lost the scenic drive at some point. The pull offs also were a bit dicey because I have a low clearance vehicle. There was a big drop from the road to the pull off.
Jana Irving Little River Falls from further away.
Jana Irving Looking down the canyon.
Jana Irving The scenic drive ends at Canyon Mouth Picnic Area after a very steep drop to a bridge.
This is only a taste of all you can find on Lookout Mountain. There are more state parks and tourist attractions, so there is plenty to do in the area. It is a reason to check out where Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia meet.
Tune in for my next update where I explore another cave in Alabama!
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Explore more nature and public lands!
Hey Jana! If you ever come over to Sewanee/Monteagle to hike Fiery Gizzard, let me know, and I’ll take you to lunch at the Mountain Goat. 🙂
I actually went out there on the same trip. Went to South Cumberland State Park.