I'd been hearing alot lately about the great trail work being done down in Chattanooga TN by the local SORBA group. Supposedly they're on mission to make the place a real MTB destination and there was an article about the plans in one of the major bike mags this month. I got up early this morning, loaded up ole' Eggplant and headed south on I-24 for about two hours. I didnt realize Chat was actually that close to Nashville, so I should've made this trip before to hit up the trails, but better late than never I guess.
When I got there I visited the TVA visitor center to hopefully obtain a trail map, and after a short lechture from some retired TVA guy staffing the place about how the lake got on top of the mountain, I got my map and headed to the trailhead. Pretty good view from up there of downtown and the Tennessee River.
I took off down the trail and it was a blast from the get-go. There was a bunch of neat trail features like boulders to ramp off of and a log ride and some other things. As always though, Im always too happy to be riding to get many pics near the start of a ride. So most of these are from around mid-way.
Alot of the trail was fast, then you'd hit some downhill section like this. Can you spot my bike?
Here's this section again from the bottom looking up. Looks pretty tame in pics, but it was techy and fun for sure.
I dont know who this guy was or what he did, but this sure is a cool way to be immortalized.
...so then you're flying on through the woods, and all of a sudden you bust out into the sunshine. DAM!
As I was saying before, about the lake on top of the mountain, what this place is, is a huge resorvoir pumped from the TN river up on top of raccoon mountain by the TVA. Then, in times of high energy need, they let some of the water flow down the hill, through some turbines to generate more power. Im not sure exactly how you get a net gain from something like this, but whatever, because the TVA lets the rest of the mountain be used as a nature sanctuary and for bike trails, so its worth it.
Apparently it took a couple weeks to build this path in the dam. A guy told me they didnt use any machinery at all, just teams of people carrying rocks down the dam. Damn! Again, can you spot my bike?
...anyway, trail as it is now is around 16 miles. Supposedly they're going to have over 30 up there upon completion, but I can say with confidence that this is easily one of the best trails Ive ridden in the south. Good climbing, nice elevation, lots of terrain features, fast, flowy...all that stuff. Definitely worth a day trip.
When I got there I visited the TVA visitor center to hopefully obtain a trail map, and after a short lechture from some retired TVA guy staffing the place about how the lake got on top of the mountain, I got my map and headed to the trailhead. Pretty good view from up there of downtown and the Tennessee River.
I took off down the trail and it was a blast from the get-go. There was a bunch of neat trail features like boulders to ramp off of and a log ride and some other things. As always though, Im always too happy to be riding to get many pics near the start of a ride. So most of these are from around mid-way.
Alot of the trail was fast, then you'd hit some downhill section like this. Can you spot my bike?
Here's this section again from the bottom looking up. Looks pretty tame in pics, but it was techy and fun for sure.
I dont know who this guy was or what he did, but this sure is a cool way to be immortalized.
...so then you're flying on through the woods, and all of a sudden you bust out into the sunshine. DAM!
As I was saying before, about the lake on top of the mountain, what this place is, is a huge resorvoir pumped from the TN river up on top of raccoon mountain by the TVA. Then, in times of high energy need, they let some of the water flow down the hill, through some turbines to generate more power. Im not sure exactly how you get a net gain from something like this, but whatever, because the TVA lets the rest of the mountain be used as a nature sanctuary and for bike trails, so its worth it.
Apparently it took a couple weeks to build this path in the dam. A guy told me they didnt use any machinery at all, just teams of people carrying rocks down the dam. Damn! Again, can you spot my bike?
...anyway, trail as it is now is around 16 miles. Supposedly they're going to have over 30 up there upon completion, but I can say with confidence that this is easily one of the best trails Ive ridden in the south. Good climbing, nice elevation, lots of terrain features, fast, flowy...all that stuff. Definitely worth a day trip.
