It is a sunny but cool and breezy day in mid-March, but it seems a perfect day to throw the bike in the truck and head downtown for a long, solitary ride across, through, and around the city of Chattanooga. The pear and cherry trees are in full bloom. That said, it is just not a day to stay home, for we bikers know that cycling is next to fitliness!
I planned a winding, wandering route through the town, across the river out to the toe of Moccasin Bend, back into town and out to St. Elmo, and finally return to Amnicola. It looks like a long journey, about 30 miles, but you know that cycling is next to fitliness!
If you have not visited Chattanooga in a few years and you like to bike, you should go. The Tennessee Riverwalk stretches from Chickamauga Dam following the Tennessee River across town to the base of Lookout Mountain in St. Elmo. It is possible to make a 26-mile loop with virtually no competition with trucks or automobiles.
My idea is not a unique one. Everyone is out today. The parking lot is overflowing. But, that is okay, there is room for all. Stretching out over miles of Riverwalk, COVID social distancing is not an issue. So, I will see couples, mothers with single and double strollers, walkers (AirPods in their ears and deaf to bicycle bells, so watch out), runners (usually women), cyclists (usually men). You may wonder, as I do, what gender bias is going on here with the women running and the men biking. Lots of old guys in beards and spandex. Not pretty but hey, it is not a beauty contest. It is all about the bike, and you know that cycling is next to fitliness!
Starting Out
Starting out from Riverpoint Park, I immediately cross South Chickamauga Creek. There are lots of Chickamauga Creeks in Chattanooga, differentiated only by compass points. When you explore Chattanooga, it takes a while to figure out that all of them are different, distinct creeks. You may wonder about why I shortened the trail and started at the Amnicola Marsh at Riverpoint. Prior to COVID, I would have started two miles further north at Chickamauga Dam. However, the county has converted my favorite starting point into a drive in vaccine inoculation station. It will be great to get all the arms in Hamilton County serviced with “Fauci Ouchies” and get my park back.
So, in passing Amnicola Marsh, I am thinking this open water will be covered with water lily pads in a few months. Here is a little surprising fact. Amnicola is not a Cherokee word as so many points of interest are Chattanooga are named. Thomas Crutchfield established a 19th century farm here and named it Amnicola, a Latin word meaning “dwelling by a river.” Surprised? I was. Anyway, this park is a meca for birders. You will see everything from hummingbirds to eagles.
Moving along the trail, I love this still, quiet pond. There are usually photographers with long lenses present capturing the abundant bird life. I have on two occasions shared the walkway with water snakes foraging the woods for dinner. They can be nasty fellows even if not poisonous.
On the River
As I roll on, the Riverwalk leaves the woods and adjoins the Tennessee River. Across the stream is Chattanooga’s oldest golf club. It remains an important hub to the business and social circles of the town. In case you did not know, the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Nickajack Dam that lies downstream from Chattanooga impounds the reservoir of the Tennessee River flowing through town. So, the terms Tennessee River and Nickajack Lake both accurately describe our waterway, though Tennessee River is the more popular description. And, a similar situation exists upstream for Chickamauga Dam. People usually think of the Chickamauga reservoir simply as “the lake.”
At this point, I am looking downtown toward Chattanooga. where you can see the bluff, Veterans Memorial Bridge and Maclellan Island with Signal Mountain in the distance. This is a popular place to just sit in solitude as the lady on the left in the shade seems to be doing.
Entering Downtown Chattanooga
As I leave the river, I pass the UT Chattanooga campus and Manker Patten Tennis courts, and survey a long climb. This stretch is the place to breathe hard, gear down, and climb Battery Place to Bluff View, the arts district of Chattanooga. Named for the Union artillery battery emplaced here during the Union occupation of Chattanooga in the Civil War, Battery Place is remarkable for distinguished old homes along the river.
Recalling that cycling is next to fitliness, breathing easier now with the long climb behind me, here is the entrance to Bluff View. A bakery is on the ground floor of the first building. The wonderful smells from there are hugely distracting and deliciously tempting. In the same fashion, the Rembrandt Coffee Shop always tempts me to take a break. But not today.
Market Street Bridge
Avoiding these temptations, I am passing through Bluff View and almost upon the Walnut Street Bridge. There are all manner of sculptures along the way.
Leaving Bluff View, we are standing in front of the Hunter Art Gallery and about to cross the bridge across Riverside to access the Walnut Street Bridge.
Constructed in 1890, the bridge linked the mostly white downtown with the mostly black North Shore. The history of this nearly half mile long bridge is as you might expect but also incredibly tragic. The townspeople lynched two black men on this bridge. Alfred Blount hung from the bridge in 1893 allegedly for attacking a white woman. Thirteen years later, in 1906 the townspeople hung Ed Johson also for allegedly attacking a white woman.
Safety concerns halted the use of the bridge for vehicular traffic in 1978. However, after years of disuse and neglect, an initiative began to rehabilitate the bridge for pedestrian traffic purposes. Happily, this landmark is now in active use for special events such as Ironman, but many walk or cycle across this bridge daily.
North Shore and Stringer’s Ridge
As I mentioned earlier, for my ride today, I am crossing the bridge to the North Shore. I will ride through the busy city traffic south to Manning Road and begin the long climb along Whitehall Road to Stringer’s Ridge. The climb is not overly steep, but it is a long steady pull to the top.
Pausing to catch my breath (Cycling is next to fitliness, you know.) and survey where I was less than 30 minutes ago, I can see the Walnut Street Bridge (the blue one) that I just crossed. The Olgiati Bridge is in the foreground. Between Olgiati and Walnut Street Bridges spans the Market Street Bridge across the river. The buildings in the center with the triangular roofs belong to the Tennessee Aquarium.
This view makes the climb to the summit of Stringer’s Ridge all the more worthwhile. And, from here you can survey Maclellan Island on the left to Lookout Mountain on the right with Cameron Hill and city center in the middle. Can you imagine living on the ridge with this view? For a brief history lesson, the ridge is the namesake of Captain William Stringer who served in the War with Mexico and against the Seminoles in Florida. Secondly, this ridge was also the site of artillery batteries firing into Chattanooga during the Civil War.
On to Moccasin Bend
It’s an exhilarating ride off the ridge and a flat run several miles through the Moccasin Bend Federal Park. I am riding all the way to the Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute which lies at the end of the road. And it seems to take no time to get there. Anyone wonder why this facility is way out there all by itself?
From the hospital, it is a quick turn retracing my ride back to North Shore and back across the Walnut Street Bridge. Moccasin Bend. This is some of the flattest bike riding anyone will find in East Tennessee. It is time to let it out and go for as you know by now, cycling is next to fitliness!
Pushing to St. Elmo
If you come to Chattanooga without wheels, not to worry. The city has a rack of rental bicycles at many locations along the Riverpark. Surprisingly, they are in good shape, and many people use them.
Do you remember that I said that Chattanooga is into the arts? There are works of art marking the way along the river. Recalling that 19th and 20th century Chattanooga was a hub of heavy industry, once known as “Pittsburgh of the South,” many of these works are large, welded steel creations.
My ride takes me along the river past modern industrial facilities such as Alstom and Siskin Steel. As for their predecessors, there are the Combustion Engineering, US Pipe and Foundry and Wheland Foundry ghosts from the past residing in these rusting buildings. There must be amazing stories of days of producing artillery tubes for WWII and other major contributions to our nation.
End of the Ride
I have finally reached the end of the trail, the Incline in St. Elmo. This railway bills itself as the world’s steepest. Workers once used the incline to ride up the mountain to cook and clean for the well-to-do living in fine homes along the brow of the Mountain. Today, the tourists have replaced them.
It is a nine-mile run to retrace my journey back to the Riverpoint Park. It has been a gorgeous day. I am tired no doubt. My GPS tells me that I have gone 29.3 miles. But I have never failed to learn something new, see something different, when out on my bike. As a senior, it is important to get plenty of exercise, and this is my favorite past time. It beats a treadmill! So, for me it simply comes down to “cycling is next to fitliness.” I wish you could join me.
