Wrapping up western North Carolina

When the Woman booked us for a week at this remote US Forest Service campground, I was a bit nervous there would be a lot of idle time. It turned out I need not have worried. We have been busy every day packing picnic lunches, heading out and exploring this fascinating area.

We visited and hiked the main trails at the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. Kilmer, born in 1886, was the poet who wrote the famous poem “I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree.” I don’t know the story about why his parents decided to name him Joyce, but I do know that Johnny Cash apparently was really breaking any new ground singing about a boy named Sue.

In 1975, Congress dedicated this 17,394 acre forest to Kilmer primarily because of this one poem. The memorial is a particularly dense old growth hard wood forest with really massive trees – perhaps not quite as massive as the giant redwoods or sequoia in California, but nearly so. The hike among them was peaceful and almost religious in a way. In addition writing that famous poem, Kilmer was a dedicated member of the US Army and actually was killed by a sniper in action in Europe in 1918. This forest seems a fitting tribute.

We hike into a waterfall pretty much every day. Because the terrain is so hilly and the forest so lush, waterfalls seem to be everywhere, and pretty much all of them have an established trail leading to a really nice viewpoint. Some take a couple of miles of hiking to get to, but some only require an investment of a half mile or so to claim your reward. Most days we try to get two waterfalls under our belts. Waterfalls are something we just can’t get enough of.

In the small town of Robbinsville NC we learned about the Cherokee known as Junalaska. Junalaska, born around 1775 in Franklin North Carolina, was not a Cherokee Chief, but well known in the area for assisting white settlers in the area, teaching them the ways of the land and assuring their successful settlement. Junalaska joined the army and served valiantly in many of the Indian wars. Junalaska is even credited with having saved the life of General Stonewall Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. Despite all this, when the Cherokee were gathered up in accordance with the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and walked to Oklahoma in 1838, Junalaska was not spared the ordeal of this nearly 900 mile death march. In 1910, in honor of their valiant citizen, the Daughters of the American Revolution set up this memorial to their comrade at the gravesite of Junalaska.

Just outside Robbinsville is the start of the historic Cherokee Trail of Tears. It follows an old Army road through Tatham Gap, and that section of the Trail still exists much as it would have looked in 1838. We drove about 10 miles of the original trail up and over the Gap. It would have been a grueling trek, and we only saw about 10 miles of the total of 900 some odd miles the Cherokee walked.

Looks to me that woodpeckers really like this kind of tree for some reason – what say you?

We have managed another maybe 10 miles of Appalachian Trail in the hills of western North Carolina. Any time the Woman can spend on the Appalachian Trail makes her happy, so she has been plenty happy here for quite a bit.

One of the sections along the Kephart Creek had this shelter. While there wasn’t anyone bedded down here, that doesn’t mean that someone didn’t spend the night here. This time of year is as high a traffic time on the Trail as any, Those heading north are trying to make sure they get to Maine before the snow flies. Most heading south have already passed through here.

We have managed to meet and chat with a few through hikers, but only a few. The Woman reminds me that only somewhere around 5% of the folk who set out to do the entire Trail actually end up accomplishing it. Given the terrain we have encountered, I am not surprised.

I guess the personalized license plate name “Packer backer” had already been taken. I imagine this car gets trashed a bit when these folks are at home.

When hiking the portion of the Smoky Mountain National Park that sits in western North Carolina, we came across some CCC era structures no longer in use, or even trying to be maintained. We came across a rock cairn which used to be a water fountain, an NPS stone sign that no longer informs what it was first intended to let folk know, and this stone chimney from either a ranger quarters or a visitor center. We have scoured the Park literature, but have yet to determine what these ruins were originally used for.

The eastern entrance to Smoky Mountain National Park is in the town of Cherokee on the Cherokee reservation. Cherokee is also the start of the 470 mile long Blue Ridge Parkway, which we drove on a bunch when we visited Ashville last fall.

We decided to venture in 20 miles to visit one of the many visitor centers on the Parkway. It was a nice center, and had a nice balcony with tree branch rocking chairs that totally reminded us of the ones on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon at the historic lodge. Time for a break!

The Park Service is happy about the reintroduction in 2002 of Elk to the Great Smoky Mountains. After being absent for perhaps a century, the herds have returned to much local joy. While they aren’t as plentiful here on the eastern end of the Park as they were in Cades Cove, we managed to catch a glimpse from the car as we scooted by this majestic resting couple.
 

Talk to you soon!       

One mystery solved, one not

We solved one of the mysteries we faced yesterday – that being why a major US Highway would have a 30 foot vehicle length restriction.

It turns out that this part of the country, especially the area where Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina meet, is known for having some of the world famous stretches of highway in the world. Colectiva is parked very near what is commonly referred to as the Dragon/Cherohala Loop.

Apparently the highways out hear are of legend similar to Route 66 in the west. The difference is that in the west, most of Route 66 has been replaced by I-40 and such, because large swaths of land were available and high-speed multi-lane road building was relatively easy. The highways in the east essentially follow the paths the British traveled in the 1700’s to establish forts, or were used to move supplies in the 1800’s during the civil war. Those original foot trails, now widened to accommodate wagons, eventually became highways with the advent of the automobile. Because of the hostile terrain and lack of any egress suitable for more high speed travel, many of these highways have not gone the way of Route 66 with much if its original roadway now just a memory.

So, it turns out that the road we had driven as a last resort last evening, the Cherohala Skyway, is known by bikers as the Mile High Legend. After learning this, I was surprised that we hadn’t run into more Harleys than we did when we were on that stretch. I am also really glad (was so at the time as well) that there were a fair number of pull-outs for scenic views where I could let the little traffic there was get by. Every time we see a symbol now for the Cherohala Skyway in the local touristy literature, we see the Mile High Legend in small letters underneath, and a picture of a big fanged viper wrapped around it.

We also learned that the vehicle restricted section of US 129 we were turned back from is known worldwide as the Tail of the Dragon – known by everyone apparently except for Garmin and Google. After all, why should that little bit of information be known by companies that specialize in road mapping anyway? Well, the rest of the world knows of Tail of the Dragon as 11 miles of secluded mountain highway with 318 curves that attracts Harley riders and sports car enthusiasts from around the world.

We found the Two Wheel Inn at the town of Deal’s Gap North Carolina, the self-proclaimed start of the Tail of the Dragon. As you would guess, the Two Wheel Inn caters to bikers – if you rent a room, you also get a small garage suitable for a Harley. It felt a bit like we were back in Sturgis during the Run!

In the courtyard of the Two Wheel Inn is the Tree of Shame (and pain). Started some 20 years ago, the Tree is a reminder of what could be if you ride above your limits on the Tail of the Dragon. Legend has it that the Tree was started when someone hung a piece of a Harley they had found on the roadway. Of course, the idea took off and now the entire tree is covered with both motorcycle and car parts from those trying to show off too much.

We drove the 11 miles of the Tail of the Dragon and found ourselves in the actual truck turnaround where we had turned Colectiva south the day before. All along the Tail of the Dragon we saw the spirit of capitalism and technology combining in fine form. There are at least a dozen guys sitting in camp chairs under sun awnings with powerful digital cameras taking photos of everyone who drives by on the Tail. After your drive by, you can go on line to their website and download your photo – of course for a small but reasonable fee!

As you can see, moonshiner.com was taking a photo of us at the exact time that I was taking a photo of him. If you look really closely, you can see the reflection of me taking his photo in his monstrous sized lens – and if you look even closer, you can see his image reflected in my lens, and even closer …..

   After experiencing the Tail of the Dragon, we tackled the Moonshiner 28. Not as snaky as the tail, but apparently this road was actively used by the many moonshiners who populated this corner of North Carolina during Prohibition. The remoteness coupled with the inaccessibility made it a perfect location for these illegal activities.

We stopped to have a bubbly and a snack at the historic Tapoco Lodge. Back in the early 40’s when the TVA was damming up all the creeks and rivers that ran through these remote hills, the Tapoco Lodge was built as a central location where the dam construction workers could hole up as they built no fewer than a half dozen dams in this area. The Lodge conveniently rests alongside the Cheoah River, and they have taken advantage of their back patio right on the Creek, which catches the afternoon shade, to have an outdoor dining area.

As we sat and listened to soothing sound of the water cascading down the rocks in the Creek, an ambulance when screaming by on US 129 heading in the direction of the Tail of the Dragon. We assumed that was a bad sign and could mean nothing good at all. We hope there hasn’t been some additional motorcycle parts now added to the Tree of Shame.

With all this highway fun under our belt, we called it a day and gave the Vue a rest.
 

Talk to you soon!

It's only 37 miles!

We started the day in no particular hurry. The Woman needed to pick up some prescriptions at Walgreens, and they didn’t have one of them locally, so we knew we had time to drive to the next town over to get it filled this morning, and make a Wally run since we would pretty much be holed up the next week in a pretty remote National Forest Service campground.

It was only 37 miles as the crow flies, and I have come to learn that may be a fair bit more when you have to follow the concrete and asphalt, wherever it happens to wind its way in-between. And since the shortest highway mileage was the main highway through the middle of Great Smoky Mountain National Park where the 10 million folk were packed into the half million acres, I was not at all surprised when the Garmin told us it would take a bit over two hours to drive that 37 miles as the crow flies.

I thought I would consult with Google, and got almost the identical answer – Google estimated the driving time through the park would be a little over two hours. But Google showed me three other routes – one that went around the north end of the park (ruled out as it would be over 3 hours) and two around the south end of the park. Both the southern routes were along a US highway, #129, so I felt comfortable taking them and both were just 10 or 15 minutes longer in estimated driving time. And either southern route would take us through areas we had never been before. So, south it was.

As we started out on roads Brenda, our Garmin GPS kept telling us that there was a better route available, since we weren’t taking the roads she was recommending. But it wasn’t long before she rerouted herself and was honed in on the alternate route that Google had recommended.

Well, Brenda takes us along the US National Park Service Foothills Parkway. The entrance has no vehicle restrictions posted, so we head on in. We learn that while it is steep and only two lanes, there is very little traffic – mostly Harley’s out joy riding and one road rally race we saw – and there are plenty of pull-outs so I can let folk by if needed.

But then it happens – bang! Some untrimmed overhanging branches smash into our air conditioning unit on the roof of Colectiva. I knew it that the tree cover had looked a bit low when we started, but assumed a main roadway with no vehicle restrictions would be trimmed to at least 13 feet which is the norm. But then not very far further – bang! This time it dragged along the entire roofline, not just the stuff that stuck up. I quickly got used to having to look ahead for the poorly trimmed tree cover, as well as any oncoming traffic, and often had to straddle the center line to avoid the brunt of the bang.

While I can’t honestly say it was fun trying to dodge the overhangs, the absolutely stunning views from the mountain ridges we were straddling were outstanding. I can honestly say that I was glad we took this route.

That is right up to the point where we had about a half hour left to go to our destination. The Woman reads a sign aloud that indicates a vehicle restriction up ahead. Sure enough, we come to a big truck pull-out where big signs blare that the road is closed to any single vehicle over 30 feet long, and to all vehicles with trailers – we loose on both accounts! Wait a minute, this is a freaking US Highway – not a state or county road, but a principle US government highway, and it is not open to trucks? What gives?

And Brenda is still telling me to keep going on US 129. I have Brenda set to “Bus” mode which means that she knows that I can’t drive on roads unless a 40 foot long vehicle is able to drive on that road, yet she is still telling me to go that way? And what about Google! When I had Google develop routes, I had Google set to truck mode, and Google still routed me this way! Thanks a lot guys!

Well, I am already over an hour and a half south of the main highway through Great Smoky National Park, so if I retrace my steps and go through the park, I am looking at another 4 hours, which I am not planning to do. So I just continue further south in Tennessee assuming at some point I will find another east bound highway that will get me around the southern end of the park and into the northwesterly portions of North Carolina where we need to get. I keep going south, and then more south, and then more south, and finally find US 441 to take us east.

Now to get back up north to where our campground is, we need to take a road called the Cherohala Skyway – another National Park Service road – oh my! Visions of vehicle restrictions flash through my mind.

Check out this sweet Beetle!

But no restrictions were posted. And the trees were actually properly trimmed on this road. While it was narrower and steeper than the Foothills Parkway, traffic was still light. There were a few scant pull-outs for the benefit of the poor souls behind us, and there was only 15 or so miles they would have to endure being behind us. And, again, the views were spectacular.

So, all in all, we managed to take 37 miles and figure out a way to turn it into just short of 6 hours of driving time! But Colectiva came through it like a champ.

Talk to you soon!

Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge Tennessee

Gatlinburg Tennessee is known at the Tennessee entrance to the Great Smoky National Park. It has a reputation of being a great destination for walking the historic streets, shopping and having fun. But, with the crowds and the heavy focus on mini-golf and Dukes of Hazard museums, we decided not to spend much time. We did, however, visit Ober Gatlinburg, a combination ski resort and amusement park with a spectacular view of the Smoky range. We sat in the après-ski bar and had an adult beverage and appetizer while enjoying the grand view. When we checked into it, we learned that because these are eastern mountains, the total vertical drop at this ski resort is only 600 feet – we used to ski 600 feet of vertical drop in the river valleys and Great Lake bluffs in northern Minnesota!

Pigeon Forge is the home of Dollywood, the massive theme park spawned by Dolly Parton. While we weren’t looking for exposure to the collection of roller coasters (which is really impressive by the way), we did want to take in the numerous museum and story type attractions surrounding Dolly’s career.

The Woman did agree voluntarily to go on both the carousel and the small traditional Ferris wheel in the kiddie section of the park. However, you would have thought this an immense wheel from the cacophony of screams coming from the seat right next to me. When we got off, the attendant asked if we had a good time, and the Woman screamed “It was scarier than sh_t!” The guy laughed, assuming she was just funnin him (it really is a small wheel), and I apologized for her language. He just laughed again and said “Sounded like perfect English to me!”

I did manage to scam onto one of the big coasters. I found one where there appeared to be no line, and because all the young’uns were trying to get on the front and back cars, I walked right onto a middle car just waiting for me with no wait at all. It turned out it was a great coaster with no less than 3 loops in a really tight, fast and thrilling configuration. Great fun and the Woman hardly knew I was gone very long.

All in all, we enjoyed our visit to Dollywood and I am glad we did not pass it up. By the way, doesn’t anybody take first level marketing anymore? Is this a really good name for a business that rents rooms to sleep over night? I have a hard time deciding which I would rather have in my sleeping room – Aunts or bugs? Maybe both!

 

Talk to you soon!

More Smoky Mountains

Most of the park does not have roads. There is one main east to west highway, but its posted speed varies from 25 to 45 at most, so with the 10 million visiting each year, even this main highway is slow going. The other roadways that do penetrate into the park are generally narrow, one way loops. Because of the distances, the density of the visitors, the posted speeds (25 MPH on one of the loops, 10 MPH on the other), and the likelihood of critter traffic jams (if one car stops to site a critter, you often cannot get around it, you just have to wait until the critter moves on or the car occupants have had enough) the rangers will tell you to allow 3 to 4 hours for each – 1 hour to drive into the park to the start of the loop, 1 to 2 hours to do the loop (depending on the critter activity), and 1 hour to get back from the start of the loop. So you pretty much need to dedicate a day per loop.

We enjoyed the Cades Cove loop very much. Cades Cove was named by early settlers to the area, and there are a number of early 1800’s log homes and church buildings that still are standing in the park. All the churches had small cemeteries attached, and our normal experience of seeing all the days, months and couple of year old kid graves was no different here. What a different time to live in when having the odds of a child of yours ever reaching adulthood was so low.

It pretty much took the advertised time to get around the loop, but with stopping at homes and churches along the way, it was really quite pleasant. It also was the site of our second encounter with a true GSMNP resident – two of them actually. A mama bear and her cub were foraging in the trees on the right side of the road. Traffic came to a complete stop, and as we watched, they emerged from the woods, sauntered across the road, and entered the thick grass on the other side of the road.

It was fun to watch them in the thick grass – they were a bit like Niko when he is in taller grass. He doesn’t just push his way through, the bounds through, leaping up and over sections of the tall stuff. As the mama and cub crossed the field, we saw alternation splashed of black as they leaped and bounded. Every now and then the mama would stand straight up on her hind legs to eat the top of one of the taller plants. The guy from the car next to us was really excited. He was from New York and came to the Smokys every year for the last 16 years for his summer vacation, and in 16 years, this was only the third bear he had seen I guess we are blessed to have had 3 sightings on our first visit!

The Woman was in ecstasy. With her Appalachian Trail obsession in full force, she had learned that the AT crossed pretty much the length of the park along the ridge of the mountain range. At several locations we were able to find the AT and hike a bunch of it. While hiking maybe 10 miles of the Appalachian Trail may not be much in relation to its 2,200 mile length, the Woman simply enjoys taking any opportunity to hike sections that we happen upon. Who knows, after 220 chance visits like this, maybe we will have done the entire AT!

We visited Clingmans Dome, the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountain range. In fact, at 6,643 feet, it holds three records – highest point in the range, highest point in the state of Tennessee, and also the highest point along the length of the Appalachian Trail. To get you a view up above the trees, a 45 foot concrete observation tower was built in 1959 – and it looks every bit just about as old as I am.

The views from the top were grand. The Woman didn’t even whine too much because the guard railings were tall, and not see through, perfect for her. We even got a bonus after venturing up – we were able to hike back to the car along a section of the AT. It appeared that the white blazes that indicated you are squarely on the main trail had been recently refreshed.

With no picnic areas within an hour of us, we just cracked out the folding chairs (we have started carrying two in the Saturn just for occasions like this) and had our picnic lunch overlooking the entire Smoky Mountain Range. Billion dollar views at our lunch stop!

Having explored the Tennessee side of the GSMNP, we plan to move Colectiva over to North Carolina and see what there is to see on that side of the park.

 

Talk to you soon!

Great Smoky Mountain National Park

On the southeastern border of Tennessee – half in Tennessee, half in North Carolina – is Smoky Mountain National Park. Great Smoky Mountain is by far the most visited park in the entire National Park system. While I know that nearby population has a lot to do with that, the numbers are still impressive. The 2^nd most visited park in the system is Grand Canyon National Park. Total visitors to the Grand Canyon were 4,756,771 in 2014. Making it look like a piker, Great Smoky Mountain National Park hosted 10,099,276 visitors in 2014, and trying to navigate the Park, we can easily confirm. On top of the sheer numbers, in Arizona you are pounding those 5 million visitors onto over 1.2 million acres – in Tennessee and North Carolina, you are pounding over double those visitors into about a third of the space – just over a half million acres!

The Great Smoky Mountain National Park is the largest remaining hardwood forest lying east of the Mississippi. As such, it does not have one or two truly unique geological features that attract visitors, just the immense forest, and of course the beautiful views of the iconic rolling mountain tops poking up through the nearly continuous mist for which the mountain chain gained its name. So mostly folk are here to commune with nature and a lot of that comes through hiking.

We decided most of our hiking would be what I think of as reward hiking. We read about three hikes well inside the park that lead to beautiful waterfalls. Today’s destination was to hit them both. Grotto Falls was about a 3 mile round trip hike and was billed as easy and mostly flat. Many hikes we find listed in National Park literature are, in our opinion, suggested to be an easier hike than we find them to be. We don’t know if that is done on purpose to encourage folk to give it a go, or if we are just weenies – we assume it is the later.

Regardless, Grotto Falls was a nice hike – at least 95% shaded from the sun by tall trees on both sides of the trail. However, those same trees also prevented much air movement along the trail, so it was pretty hot and sweaty. But the reward at the end made it well worth the investment.

Rainbow Falls took a bit more of an investment – nearly 6 miles round trip, and it was rated as strenuous. The good news is that this rating was accurate in our opinion – the hike was very similar in both terrain and elevation gain to the Grotto Falls hike, so something we could readily handle.

Again we were rewarded with a nice falls at the halfway point. However, the true rewards were all along the trail. The trail followed the mountain stream that created the falls themselves, and so all the way along the hike you heard the comforting sounds of cascading waters. Not only that, but about every 400 yards or so there was a clear view of the cascading waters, so in a way we were actually continuously seeing waterfalls as we hiked. It really was a very nice hike.

Laurel Falls had the most cars parked in the congested parking area, and all along the roadway in both directions. We assume that is because it the only waterfall in the park that has a paved trail to it and the trail is only about a mile and a half long. However, to claim this was paved is a bit generous – it may have been paved long ago, but its current state of disrepair makes navigating a stroller a challenge at best. We did see one young girl somehow get a powered wheel chair all the way to the falls, but I would have been scared to death to have tried to manage that – glad she made it!

There were people everywhere once we actually arrived at Laurel Falls. Of course, as I said before, there are people everywhere in Great Smoky Mountain National Park. But we learned at the falls that just the existence of a huge crowd would not guarantee that a local resident might not make an appearance.

Despite all the people, we were treated with a glimpse of this local resident. He suddenly appeared at the base of the falls, and then quickly climbed up the hillside and disappeared into the dense foliage. What more could you ask for? A nice hike with two rewards at the end – both a falls and a bear!

 

Talk to you soon!

Chattanooga Tennessee

When I think of Chattanooga, I can’t get that 1941 song by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon out of my head – Pardon me boys, is that the Chattanooga Choo-Choo? So, we couldn’t help but pay a visit to Track 29, but I didn’t get a shine.

Luckily, the former Chattanooga train terminal was saved from demolition in the 1970’s, and is now operated as a hotel. The terminal building itself contains the lobby, restaurant, bar and gift shop. A fun twist is that in addition to the wings built with hotel rooms, dozens of historic passenger cars have been remodeled to be individual hotel rooms, complete with room service. It seems like it would be a fun experience.

While most of the actual rails have been removed and replaced with beautiful gardens and fountains, they have retained enough of the steel to display an impressive number of vintage train engines and cars. We had a blast just walking through and feeling like we were actually in a train station during the heyday of passenger rail travel. For me, I was again seeing off Grandma La in the St. Paul Depot as she headed for California.

We discovered a little known gem in the northeast corner of Alabama, Russell Cave National Monument. Established May 11, 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, Russell Cave is the longest mapped cave in Alabama. But its importance is the treasure trove of artifacts from human occupation it contains. With an active source of fresh water, the cave opening provided shelter, warmth, water, ample food both plant and game, as well as defendable protection. The visitor center has on display some of the artifacts excavated over the years, including the Russell Cave arrowhead only found here. Scientists, though carbon dating, have determined that the earliest occupation of the cave was over 10,000 years ago!

The ranger at Russell Cave National Monument was outstanding. Since we were the only folk there, he gave us a personal tour, giving us the narrative of the importance of the site, being the oldest human remains in the eastern US. He asked us if we had been to the Civil War battlefields, and we said we were heading there tomorrow. James let us know that his wife, Hope, ran the front desk at the Chickamauga Battlefield, and I asked him if it were OK if I played a little prank. I said that if he would not mention it to Hope, I would show up there tomorrow and when I went to the desk, I would shout “Hope, is that you!” Well, it worked perfectly. I fessed up after saying things like “It’s been so long.” and “How is James doing – that is your husband’s name, James, right?” I am sure that James got a good dose of warm tongue and cold shoulder for dinner that evening!

The two destinations on our list were the sites of what arguably were the decisive battles during the Civil War. Situated directly on the Tennessee River and being the rail hub leading into the heartland of the South, Chattanooga was the obvious next move for Grant’s Union forces in their mission to choke off the supply lines into the Confederacy.

We visited the Chickamauga Battlefield, pulled our bikes off the Saturn, and proceeded to explore. September 19-20, 1863, again saw the fiercest fighting of the war. While General Braxton Bragg and the Confederate forces had a slight advantage, 65,000 men compared to the 60,000 lead by Major General William Rosecrans, that advantage would not ultimately result in the South being victorious.

Total casualties on the Chickamauga Battlefield were nearly 35,000, nearly 4,000 of those died on the field. Historians overwhelmingly identify this as perhaps the turning point In the war, with the slow slide of the Confederate forces clearly set in motion.

While the Union forces held the city of Chattanooga, the Confederates still held the high ground across the Tennessee River from the city, known as Lookout Mountain. Today, Lookout Mountain has perhaps the most expensive real estate in Eastern Tennessee, with expansive views of both the city and the country around it for hundreds of miles.

But on November 24, 1863 it was the site of a heated battle. Major General Joseph Hooker led the Union forces of about 10,000 men against the 9,000 some odd Confederate men occupying the mountain. While the battle was hard fought and it would seem that the Rebels had the high ground which should have been an advantage, the battle was decisive. Union casualties were less than 500 – Confederate casualties were nearly 1,300 with another 1,100 being captured.

You can see 4 states from the top of Lookout Mountain – Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina. Our views were spectacular, especially from the balcony of Cravens House. Robert Cravens, an iron master, built this home on Lookout Mountain 1856. During the battle for Lookout Mountain, Robert Cravens house was being used as the headquarters for Major General Carter L. Stevenson and his Confederate forces. During the siege, Union forces stormed Cravens house, occupying it, and actually standing on the balcony where we were standing today.

Of course, you can’t have any popular destination like this without creating some tourist traps. Rock City is a 700 acre theme park on the South bluffs overlooking Chattanooga. Missionaries Daniel S. Butrick and William Chamberlain in August of 1863 described a “citadel of rocks” atop the mountain. Both Union and Confederate forces had their pictures taken on these rocks, giving rise to the term soldier/tourist. The other tourist trap is Ruby Falls. While we didn’t actually pay the fee to visit either of these sites, we did tour the visitor centers.

Before we left Chattanooga, we had to pay our respects. The slogan of “Nooga Strong” is emblazoned everywhere we go. First we stopped at the strip mall location where the armed forces recruiting office was that Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez opened fire and shot out all the windows. The make shift memorial that has developed at the sight is anything but that – it is well organized, poignant, and about the size of a couple of football fields. The local Chattanooga folk are clearly disturbed by the incident, and grateful for those that serve for their freedom.

We then drove the 7 some odd miles to the Naval Reserve Station that Abdulazeez sped to after shooting up the windows at the recruiting office. There he opened fire immediately killing 4 marines and wounding one Naval sailor who later died from his wounds. After these killings, he reentered the building where he fired upon responding police officers, and was fatally shot by them. The memorial at the Naval Reserve Center was not as massive as the one at the recruiting office, but that was more about logistics and available space than it was about the significance of the site. The memorial here was just as riveting.

We departed Chattanooga in a very somber mood.
 

Talk to you soon!