“River to Clouds” multi-use trail opens to the public
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — On Monday, THRIVE partners held a ribbon cutting for a new trail system spanning through both Tennessee and Georgia.
The “River to Clouds Route” is now officially open to the public. This trail system is at least 25 years in the making and spans 34 miles total.
The trail system is multi-use, meaning it is for hikers, runners and mountain bikers.
Partners and the public gathered at the Far Enough Trail in St. Elmo for the ribbon cutting on November 6.
River to Clouds Route ribbon cutting (THRIVE)
River to Clouds Route connects various trails from downtown Chattanooga to Rising Fawn, Georgia.
“Most of our trails are existing but were hiking trail only. There was a small section, the Jackson Gap Trail, that had to be repurposed to a multi-use trail to allow mountain bikes in that section,” said Chief Ranger of the National Military Park Todd Milsaps.
The route connects a total of 99 trails in Walker, Dade and Hamilton Counties. Some of those include the Chattanooga National Military Park, Cloudland Canyon and Lula Lake.
THRIVE partners include six different public and private property holders. Those include the Lookout Mountain Conservancy, the National Park Service, Lula Lake Land Trust, Georgia-Alabama Land Trust, Covenant College and Georgia State Parks.
“Connecting downtown Chattanooga to Cloudland Canyon State Park has long been a vision of our organization, starting with our founders in 1994, and we couldn’t be more proud to see it come to life. This project wouldn’t have been possible without collaboration between multiple landowners and stakeholders. The River to Clouds Route will add another incredible, long-distance mountain biking and hiking route to the region’s already extensive trail systems, bringing people from all over to enjoy the beautifully designed trails and scenery of Lookout Mountain,” said Cody Roney, executive director of Lula Lake Land Trust.
Find a map of all included trails here.
Along these trails, expect to find scenery such as waterfalls, hang gliders, scenic overlooks, camping, rock climbing and much more.
However, due to recent wildfires, part of this trail is inaccessible at this time, according to the Lula Lake Land Trust.
“As of Nov. 6th, the High Point section of the River to Clouds Route is closed due to a wildfire on the property. Once the fire is out and LLLT can assess the trail and damages we will reopen this section.”
They ask trail-goers to avoid the area of the trail from Nick-A-Jack to Five Points.
