This past 4th of July my brother came down to visit and we planned on spending Saturday and Sunday in Chattanooga hiking. Shawn averages 2-3 trips down a year, so at this point, he’s seen a lot of Asheville—I wanted to show him something different and knew he’d also really like Chattanooga based on my time there.
It was always going to be a short-ish trip, but about a week before he was set to arrive, one of our close college friends let us know that he and his wife would be in Asheville celebrating her birthday over the long weekend, and wanted to meet up. We’d already booked the hotel so didn’t want to cancel, but did decide to hightail it back Sunday after a short hike as opposed to a leisurely long-hike-then-dinner-then-meander-home-with-no-real-agenda that was planned, which means that all in all we were in Chattanooga for almost exactly 24 hours. That being said, I’m pretty impressed with all we were able to accomplish.
Here’s our itinerary:
A 24-Hour Chattanooga Hiking-Heavy Itinerary
Cloudland Canyon
Cloudland Canyon State Park was our first stop, directly from Asheville, and not a bad drive at all. We did both the Waterfalls Trails, which descended into the canyon, as well as the West Rim Loop Trail, which took you through the canyon and then up around its western rim, granting stunning views of the opposite wall, and while it wasn’t scary, it wasn’t not scary. It reminded me more than a bit about hiking around Linville Gorge (and for context, is only about 20 minutes south of Chattanooga, right over the Georgia state line).
Brewhaus
The hike took us a couple of hours (we started around 11:00 AM) so by the time we got back to Chattanooga, checked into our hotel (a nondescript, but nice, downtown Holiday Inn), showered, and rested up a bit, we were starving. We walked over the Pedestrian Bridge to Chattanooga’s North Shore to check out the Brew Haus, a German Restaurant that I’d missed on my last visit, and I figured Shawn would like it (we’re both big schnitzel people).
The food was good, but God does it get hot down south when you’re not in the mountains, so we sat inside instead of on their deck.
The highlight of our meal was when we asked the waitress at a German Restaurant if the “potato cake” side was the same thing as “potato pancakes,” and she informed us that “they don’t look like pancakes to me.” They were…but I’m not holding this against Brew Haus at all, and neither should you.
Clumpies
On our way back to the hotel (we were both beat from hiking in the heat so made it a very early night), we stopped at Clumpies Ice Cream, which was a pretty standard big-city ice cream parlor, but merits a mention because I had “Maple Crisp” ice cream that was glorious.
Milk and Honey
Our pre-Sunday hike brunch was at Milk & Honey, also on the North Shore (walking distance from both Clumpies and Brew Haus) that we really just picked because it was one of the few options open before nine on a Sunday (why do brunch/breakfast spots everywhere open so late on Sundays?), and it turned out to be quite good. I judge breakfast sandwiches on their bread, and this was solid toasted sourdough. We didn’t indulge in their pastry counter, which included giant homemade pop tarts, and I’d like to indulge in those, so I’m putting this back on my list next time I go to Chattanooga.
Lula Lake Land Trust
Last, but not least, was our Sunday hike at the Lula Lake Land Trust, also just over the Georgian border, and also about 20 minutes from downtown Chattanooga. The Land Trust, open the first and last weekend of every month (and requiring reservations) is much more a walk, than a hike, but takes you to two very beautiful waterfalls, and has several picnic areas. I could see making a regular day out of this if you lived in the greater Chattanooga area.
AshevilleExplorer 