We’re dipping our toes back into travel! We’re fully vaccinated and want to see how comfortable interstate travel would be. Our criteria: somewhere south (warm!), somewhere with lots of outdoor activities, and somewhere within a day’s drive. After that, we essentially threw a dart at the map and came up with a Chattanooga vacation! Kind of random, but it ended up being one of the best trips I’ve taken.

Our first big shock was a travel stop where we fueled up and went inside to use the bathroom. It was part gas station and part fast food, and we walked inside to find that we were the only ones wearing masks! That was when we realized that some states have dropped their mask mandate. After that, it was only rest areas for bathroom usage since they tend to be much less crowded (and no one is eating and hanging out!). I wondered if the whole trip was a mistake, but that stop was our only bad experience.

The first day in Chattanooga (Wednesday) was forecast to have a little rain, so we made plans to visit thrift stores (a great way to get to know an area!) and stock up on groceries so we could make most of our meals in our airbnb. I’m extraordinarily pleased with one thrift store find, a Joby Gorillapod for $2! It’s a small, flexible tripod that is also VERY strong, ideal for our camera and all the hiking we wanted to do! I eyed them when I bought the camera, but they retail for $50-80 so it didn’t fit my budget. We used it nearly every day of our trip!

I watched the sky cover forecast obsessively, because there’s a mountain right in town that has a beautiful westward view and I wanted to get some shots up at Sunset Rock. Our first night there was one of the few nights with just a few clouds (ideal for a beautiful sunset!) so we headed up Lookout Mountain, where we could see the Tennessee River as it snakes toward the city! The sunset itself wasn’t quite was I was looking for, but the views were unmatched.

The following day we headed half an hour north of town. I’d read about a gorgeous hike along Big Soddy Creek and made it a priority! The trail we planned was about 3.8 miles (an out-and-back) that followed a gorgeous icy blue river. There are plenty of “blue holes” for swimming along here, but that water is COLD!

Partway down the trail we came across a tall waterfall that seemed to be falling right into the trail. It was such a beautiful scene I couldn’t believe it. Creek on one side, waterfall on the other, it’s the 2nd most beautiful hike I’ve done (the first has got to be Chapel Rock Loop!). The trail was wide and even like this the entire time, making it a very easy “hike.”

By the time we got back to the car I was dragging. I felt like I could barely go another step. However, there was another short hike in that area with a scenic overlook that I wanted to do, it was only about 1/2 a mile, but the trail wasn’t easy. We powered through and made it to the overlook, and since we heard running water we even explored the trail beyond a little bit. Scenic overlooks like this abound in the Chattanooga area!

We were exhausted but so content. Fortunately the following day was planned to be a pretty chill day, I tried to give us a good balance of activity and downtime. Our day involved heading to a local brewery, then downtown to see the big pedestrian Walnut St bridge across the Tennessee River and find the “high four” dog sculpture, and hopefully some ice cream!

Downtown was not what we expected. It was all chain restaurants (like Chili’s) and residential high rises. It didn’t seem very walkable, and even the dog sculpture was missing due to construction! The ice cream shop was completely packed with people so we decided to give it a pass. Not knowing what else to do, we headed back home to have a beer on the patio.

The weekend was a good time to avoid busy areas, so on Saturday we backtracked down the freeway a bit. Our last rest area stop was on an island in the Tennessee River and it was a beautiful stop, and I wanted to head back to that area to fly the drone. There were a couple parks I had scoped out, but one ended up being a very busy campground and the other was nonexistent. A nearby boat launch / fishing hole served the purpose though. I sent dronie up to 400 ft to see what she could see! The freeway is the bridge in the background, and the island it crosses is where the rest areas were.

Riding that drone high, we drove back into Chattanooga to one of the huge parks on the waterfront to see if we could find a quiet place to fly the drone. Since it was the weekend, I didn’t get my hopes up, but the park was huge and we made it work! The middle bridge in this pic is the pedestrian bridge from yesterday.

We also walked along the waterfront for a bit.

That evening was our second good sunset forecast, so back up to Lookout Mountain. The Sunset Rock parking lot was full (it has 8 parking spaces so not surprising), so we went out to Point Park at the northern tip of the mountain. It’s a National Park that was closed, but still (legally) accessible after hours. We arrived in plenty of time so we explored the park and found stellar views of the city – plus a classic shot overlooking Chattanooga!

I know panoramas don’t show up well on mobile, but this scenery is just so gorgeous I have to share the pano shot of Moccasin Bend!

We found ourselves alone at an overlook to watch the sun set, and had a lovely evening. The temps were just perfect the whole time we were there, but it’s definitely breezy up on those mountains!

Sunday was another big hiking day for us. We planned to hike Signal Mountain. It’s a 6 mile out-and-back trek to a fantastic overlook called Edwards Point, but I knew that would be too big of a hike for me, so my goal was to make it at least halfway there where we’d find a suspension bridge over another river.

There are several gorgeous overlooks ahead of Edwards Point, which is why I didn’t feel a strong need to make it all the way there! This cliff overlooks the Tennessee River, and from that vantage point we also got a great view of Julia Falls across the valley. Edwards Point is the uppermost rock on the right side of the photo below.

We were forecast to have a high wind advisory for the day, but it didn’t feel like the wind had picked up yet, so I sent dronie off the edge of the cliff for the most epic selfies we’ve ever shot! I was concerned that there would be a strong updraft/downdraft due to the mountain geometry, or a strong wind shooting through the valley that we couldn’t feel through the trees, but the flight went great. It’s still a little nerve-wracking to fly in an area where I can’t recover the drone, since it’s an expensive piece of equipment and I also really don’t want to litter.

I’ve been having some hip pain, and it helps to keep fairly equal weight on both feet, which means big steps up or down cause pain, and ducking under trees causes pain. I’d read that the hardest part of the trail was the first mile, but it never seemed to get easier.

This is me, wondering if the trail really does go straight up the rock pile. I was looking for a white blaze, which is actually on the fallen tree just over my left shoulder.

Long story short, I was not having a great time and we called it quits early. I was really disappointed but since this was an out-and-back trail for us, I would have to do all the hard parts twice and I was already in pain. And we still enjoyed some spectacular scenery, so I didn’t feel like I was missing out.

Plus, that was not our only hike for the day! Nearby was a short hike to Falling Water Falls, and that was our next stop. I had no idea what to expect, but I was still surprised to find that our hike culminated in a cliffside at the top of the falls!

I really wanted to see the falls, but Kyle doesn’t like heights and he doesn’t like it when I go near the edge. He kept saying “You can’t fall off a beach!”

I ended up laying on my stomach and holding my camera out over the edge and snapping a bunch of photos without being able to see what I was doing, which turned out okay! And Kyle was much happier when I moved away from the cliff.

Monday was supposed to be rainy again, but ended up being a beautiful day. Because of the forecast, we didn’t plan much (plus it’s nice to have more downtime after a big hiking day), but I’d read about a sculpture field with over 40 very large sculptures so we checked that out. We pretty much had the place to ourselves! I wish I’d used Kyle for scale in this photo, but the flag/trash can/bench help show the scale here.

Tuesday was our last day in Chattanooga, and it was a catch-all day – a day to do all the things we hadn’t gotten to yet. First on my list was back up to Soddy Daisy, there was a popular blue hole that I wanted to see but I had misremembered its location the first time we were there! Plus I had wanted to fly the drone at Big Soddy Creek and didn’t have a good opportunity on our first visit.

I knew we’d have a creek crossing in order to reach the blue hole. We’d gotten a bit of rain Sunday night, and apparently that was all it took to make the river unpassable, as all the rain streams down the mountain. We chatted with a local who was also out for a hike, and he gave us his scoop on the area and confirmed that it was not a good day to cross the creek.

This is the river crossing, the trail continues on the other side in the circled area. It’s deeper that it looks and the water was really moving! With better footwear, and probably a drybag for gear, we might have risked it.

Instead I popped dronie in the air and tried to capture the scene. Because there were a lot of trees, I opted to keep the flight short and sweet.

We hiked back and headed home for lunch. We put on nicer clothes and drove to the art district to find some alleyway art! I had a couple stops in mind, and while my hand-drawn map left some accuracy to be desired, we found Umbrella Alley!

We also found Passageways 2.0, which looks like a fantastic spot to enjoy a beer in the evening. This definitely redeemed the downtown area for us, further from the water seems to be much more walkable and interesting! I almost regret not figuring it out earlier.

We enjoyed happy hour at a place that was 90% patio. Plus, being early in the evening, it was nearly empty. This is the first time we’ve eaten at a restaurant since August, mainly because the weather hasn’t been conducive to outdoor dining. It was amazing!

We also had to wander by the Chattanooga ChooChoo, which is apparently famous from a song but I can’t vouch for that.

Then back to the airbnb to pack up and get ready to head out first thing in the morning! Kyle reminded me of our trip to Puerto Rico, where before we even left for home we had to sit down and have an “okay, where did we go wrong” conversation because that vacation…didn’t go so well. This ended up being one of my favorite vacations ever, a perfect mix of activity and downtime, nature and city, etc. There’s a lot of variety in a very small area, you don’t have to go far to find a good hike or great views!