Ranking Chattanooga's Mountains

The Tennessee River Gorge

I love mountains. Living in Chattanooga, mountains surround me. From downtown, I am within a twenty-minute radius of no less than five mountains teeming with creeks, capped by cliffs, and sprawling with trails. They are what makes Chattanooga Outside Magazine's "Best Town Ever" twice and one of their 24 Best Mountain Towns in the U.S. for 2022. But not all mountains are created equal. That's why I have created a definitive, objective, and exhaustive ranking of Chattanooga's mountains.

About Our Mountains

 Some snobbishly inclined folks from America's "greater" mountain ranges thumb their noses at the Appalachians, especially the southern Appalachians. When I say I'm from Tennessee, these people turn into Crocodile Dundees of elevation. "That's not a mountain. That's a mountain." 

*shows you a google image search of Longs or Shasta* 

*flails on a southern V3 boulder problem or 5.8 trad line* 

Yes, our mountains are small. The Rockies would be too if they were 400 million years older and succumbed to the geologic pressure of erosion. 

In the ridge-and-valley province of the Appalachian region, mountains are long rather than tall. Lookout Mountain peaks at a mere 2,392 ft but runs 88 miles south starting from Chattanooga. Because of this, "peaks" and rises above the mountains' plateaus often receive local, colloquial names. For example, Raccoon Mountain is also Elder Mountain; I will use "Raccoon" because trash pandas are cooler than old people. This is also the case with Signal Mountain and Suck Creek Mountain. Both are part of the Cumberland Escarpment, known as Walden Ridge, that runs 74 miles through Tennessee. It all gets confusing. For my purposes, I will use Suck Creek Mountain to refer to areas west of and including Suck Creek Canyon and Signal Mountain for everything else.

A: Lookout Mountain

B: Mowbray Mountain

C: Raccoon Mountain

D: Signal Mountain

E: Suck Creek Mountain

About My Methodology

I rank the mountains according to arbitrary categories: swimming holes, mountain biking, rock climbing, etc. If you don't like my categories or think them insufficient, make your own mountain rankings. 

Points are awarded based on the quality of the category for each mountain. The point system goes as follows:

No (0 points): nope, nada, zero. This mountain does not offer anything in this category. Or it does but it's on private property which means it does not. I award this mountain no points and may God have mercy on your soul. 

Not really (1 point): Practically speaking, no. Sure, you could cool off in the pools above and below Glen Falls but you can't swim in them. 

Yes (2 points): This mountain has swimming holes or rock climbing or trail running and is worth your time but other mountains have better.  

Amazing (3 points): This mountain offers amazing recreation opportunities. Its [insert category] is unrivaled regionally and maybe even nationally (just look at the license plates in rock climbers' parking lots in winter around here). 

 

Admitting My Presuppositions

I've stood on summits from Maine to Washington, New Mexico to Canada. Little ol' Lookout is still my favorite mountain in the whole world. I've climbed hundreds of pitches (Mountain Project), logged  thousands of miles (Strava), and made a lifetime of memories (my brain) on this ancient prominence. I'll try to keep that love of place in check throughout my analysis.

Ranking Chattanooga's Mountains

Mowbray Mountain takes the swimming hole KOM with ease. From the ever-popular and ever-crowded Blue Hole to the not-so-secret-but-hard-to-get-to spots up in Big Soddy Gorge or Deep Creek: cold and clear wollerin' holes abound. Suck Creek And Signal Mountain have great roadside holes for a summer escape. Lookout gets a "Not Really" score because a truly majestic, God-tier, swimming spot exists but is inaccessible behind the private property lines of the Lula Lake Land Trust. Raccoon comes in last, though you could jump into the green, tepid waters of one of America's most polluted rivers if you wanted to. 

Rebecca about to take the plunge somewhere on Mowbray Mountain

Lookout Mountain's Guild-Hardy and Truck Trail systems are excellent after-work ramble or pieces of a bigger adventure ride. Expect everything from pea gravel to baby head-sized chonk. The area's best gravel is on top of Suck Creek Mountain in the Prentice Cooper State Forest. The main road offers 25 miles of out-and-back gravel grinding and the numerous Jeep spur trails make for rowdy and fun adventure biking. 

Alea, Brooks, and some folks I don't remember on Game Reserve Road

This is Raccoon Mountain's time to shine. The High Voltage trail was featured on Patagonia's "Best of Home" and I think the Live Wire trail gives it a run for its money. If you like technical and chunky riding with blistering, singletrack descents, then this is the trail system for you. Not to be outdone, Lookout Mountain features fast and fun mountain biking across its plateau. Many of which can be strung together via the 14-mile long Cloudland Connector Trail. 

Notice that Signal gets an alternative ranking because Walden's Ridge Park will be completed soon and offers downhill trails that people will want to travel from all over to ride. So that's cool.  

Brooks playing on the Chunky Trail of Raccoon Mountain

Again, everyone gets points here. If there are trails, then there's trail running. Raccoon comes in last because if you run here you may get mowed down by an unsuspecting mountain biker. I know because I've almost mowed down a few myself. They're MTB trails for a reason. 

Lookout Mountain's battlefield national park offers a web of trails that link up in a myriad of ways but its 10-mile Big Daddy Loop is its pride and joy. Suck Creek boasts the Pot Point and Mullins Cove loops. Both measure about 13 miles and can be done together in a figure-8 for a trail marathon(ish) that will kick you in the pants. Finally, don't sleep on Mowbray Mountain where the Cumberland Trail traverses its plateau and descends and climbs back out of its steep cliff-lined gorges. 

Rebecca descending the Bluff Trail on Lookout Mountain

Chattanooga drops the ball in this category, at least in its greater-metropolitan statistical area. Segments of the Cumberland Trail cut through Mowbray, Signal, and Suck Creek Mountains and make for nice overnighters but the real good stuff is a few hours away in the Smokies. 

Reid backpacking the Cumberland Trail on Mowbray Mountain

Everybody gets points here. Even you, Raccoon. Chattanooga is the crown jewel of southern rock climbing and maybe even climbing east of the Mississippi. My favorite single-pitch trad crag in the world is Sunset Park atop Lookout Mountain. Mowbray boasts overhanging sport climbing and world-class bouldering (LRC, yes but don't miss the horizontal roof-pulling down the road on the Cumberland Trail). Lastly, Tennessee Wall attracts trad climbers from all over the country to its orange and tan sandstone walls during the year's coldest months. Because "T-Wall" is southern facing, you can climb in a t-shirt in January. 

myself bouldering at the base of Signal Mountain

The Final Analysis: Chattanooga's Mountains Ranked

Suck Creek Mountain: 14

Lookout Mountain: 13

Mowbray Mountain: 11

Signal Mountain: 10 (though soon to be 12, probably)

Raccoon Mountain: 7

Chattanooga's best mountain is Suck Creek Mountain. You can climb the formidable cliffs of the Tennessee Wall; dunk in the numerous swimming holes along Suck Creek Road; run the Pot Point loop; backpack the Cumberland Trail; bike Game Reserve Road to Insurance Bluff; or car camp at Davis Pond. All of these reasons make it Chattanooga's best mountain -- even better than Lookout. 

*

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Coffeeneuring 2020 Week #6: Lookout Mountain Adventure Loop

hike-a-bike

Coffeeneuring: riding bikes, drinking coffee, seven times, seven places, seven weeks; there's some rules.  

 

 

About the ride: The Book Club Boys ride again! At the northern end of Lookout Mountain, a proverbial smörgåsbord of gravel and singletrack can be linked together by a series of gravel paths, singletrack, hike-a-bike, and a scenic highway. I call it the Lookout Mountain Adventure Loop and it is my favorite local ride. It's roughly 32 miles and I decided to ride it for coffeeneuring week #6 and my annual birthday "challenge.*" 

 

We rendezvous'd at Reid's at 6:30 and caught the sun rising from the Guild Trail. Mid-November changed the dynamic of the ride completely. The sea of leaves that carpeted the trail made the finer gravel of the Guild-Hardy system lovely and made the extra chunky stuff on the Upper Truck and the CCT's techy singletrack... exciting. The flowy part of Upper Truck, the scenery along Jackson Springs Trail, and the sustained descent down Ochs Highway are highlights for me. Such a fun ride with friends.

nice dirt road

About the coffee: We made coffee at the Gum Springs Trail intersection and got lots of strange looks from trail runners. Just some dudes in the woods making coffee. The moka pot is my first coffee love, however it's been largely neglected the past year. This week I returned to my roots and rekindled an old flame. The only "fancy" methodology used here was pre-boiling the water before filling the chamber and placing an Aeropress filter between the grounds and the gasket. The paper filter cuts the acidity and bitterness that the moka pot can be known for but still produces a bold and powerful cup. We split it three ways and cut it with water for trail americanos. Everyone approved. 

Date: 11.14.20

Location: 35°00'17.2"N 85°21'12.4"W

Bike: Shanina

Coffee: moka pot americano

Miles: 32 (strava)

book club boys

*I do this loop regularly and recognize that 32 miles on a bike is not all that impressive. Therefore, this birthday challenge is neither spectacular nor particularly physically challenging. This year, the focus was FUN. 

Coffeenuering 2020 Week #5: Missionary Ridge

 

Shanina on the Ridge, with Lookout in the background

 

 Coffeeneuring: riding bikes, drinking coffee, seven times, seven places, seven weeks; there's some rules. 

On November 25, 1863 federal forces, commanded by General Ulysses S. Grant, sandwiched Confederate troops on a small ridge on the eastern edge of Chattanooga. Maj. General William Tecumseh Sherman attacked from the north and Maj. General Henry Thomas from the south. It was a decisive victory for the Union that changed the tide of war and opened the South up for Sherman's march to the sea.

On November 7, 2020 Rebecca and I rode our bikes up and along the ridge, following the same trajectory many of General Thomas' soldiers did. As a social studies teacher and lay history nerd, this fact is not lost on me.  

About the ride: This is my favorite city ride which circles the "main" part of Chattanooga. The ride begins with a climb up and then along the rolling Missionary Ridge (S --> N). It passes luxurious homes, 19th century cannons, plaques, monuments, and statues and aside from six-mile long history lesson, Crest Road offers up endless views of the city valley, Lookout Mountain, and Tennessee River. North Crest ends with an exciting and fun descent down into the Glass Farms neighborhood before it rides along South Chickamauga Creek. Finally, the ride cruises along the river-walk and around the city and ends back home in Ridgedale.

This was Rebecca's longest bike ride and it was so much fun to hear her cooing at the hard-earned views laughing through the well-deserved descents. She was even talking about a half-century and another triathlon by the time we got home! I truly loved sharing this ride with her. 

#coffeeoutside at the Bragg Reservation

About the coffee: We stopped at the Bragg Reservation at the southern end of the ridge and made coffee in beneath beautiful autumnal leaves and a monument to the union forces from Illinois. No specialty or fancy coffee this week, just some tried and true coffee made in my trusty aeropress; standard brew method with a 14:1 ratio. I ran out of fuel before I got a good boil going but plenty of "fisheyes" in the pot was hot enough. Aeropress recommends 175 degrees anyway, right? A little kid wished us a "good picnic... or coffee business... or whatever you're doing!"

Date: 11.7.20

Location: 35°01'09.1"N 85°15'48.9"W

Bike: Shanina

Coffee: Publix Premium Dark Roast, Aeropress (standard), 14:1   

Miles: 20.02 (strava) 

funhogging

Coffeeneuring 2020 "Week" #4: Ridgedale

Becca with some Ridgedale street art

Coffeeneuring: riding bikes, drinking coffee, seven times, seven places, seven weeks; there's some rules.  

  

Better late than never. The devils conspired against me this week. And it seemed like the fourth coffeeneuring ride might not happen. Reid and I could not get our schedules to align. Yesterday's solo ride didn't happen either. But today, I prevailed and squeezed in a quick ride around the neighborhood with Rebecca and made an extra delicious cup of hyper caffeinated coffee to fuel our election results watching.

About the ride: We were squaunched for time -- a new pup at home, the sun setting an hour earlier, and election results that my job requires me to watch and pay attention to -- so we rode around our neighborhood in Chattanooga's southside: Ridgedale. We love our neighborhood and its quirks and charms: abandoned factories, pit bulls on chains of unknown lengths (we have a pitty now too but she stays inside), and corn growing in front yards.

I rode my tracklocross bike which is never not fun and always makes me feel a little more punk rock. It bunny hops manhole covers, jumps ditches and curbs, rips back alley gravel, and is just an all around funhog. I love singlespeeds. And if I ever get a "real mountain bike", it'll have one forking speed.

The best part was that Becca came along and we got to talk about our days and the election and it was really quite nice albeit way too short. 

"Tennessee Molasses"

 

About the coffee: The short, flat ride allowed me to splurge on the coffee this week. I made a version of "Tennessee Molasses," an aeropress brewed coffee infused with Dr. Pepper, which I would order as a treat from The Well Coffeehouse in Nashville when I would visit Rebecca there. Here's the recipe:

• Grind ~20 grams of coffee (I used Perc Coffee Guatemala Asprocdegua)
• Cover coffee with Dr. Pepper and let bloom. 
• Stir
  
• Fill the chamber with Dr. Pepper 
• Wait 2 minutes
• Press over ice
• Add remaining Dr. Pepper to taste 
  

Date: 11.3.20

Location: 35°01'33.8"N 85°16'12.8"W

Bike: tracklocross rig AKA "The People's Bike"

Coffee: aeropress brewed Perc Coffee Guatemala Asprocdegua, infused with Dr. Pepper 

Miles: 3.5 (strava)

"The Peoples' Bike" with some Ridgedale street art

 

Coffeeneuring 2020 Week #2: East Chattanooga Triple Crown Death March

Max dropping in the slab at Bauxite Ridge

 

 

Coffeeneuring: riding bikes, drinking coffee, seven times, seven places, seven weeks; there's some rules. 

 

This week's entry mashes two potatoes with one fork: coffeeneuring week #2 and Max's Birthday Challenge ride. Max chose to celebrate his 29th birthday by riding 29 mountain bike trails at 3 different trail systems connected by roads in eastern Chattanooga. Reid and I tagged along (and made some coffee) for a very mega day. I have named this route the East Chattanooga Triple Crown Death March. 

 

About the ride: My favorite rides are adventurous and topographically diverse routes that require your bike to do everything from road to gravel to singletrack. This ride met those requirements and added the unnecessary and "unbibbed" challenge of pushing yourself to your physical limits. We started at Enterprise South, headed over to White Oak Mountain, and finally Bauxite Ridge. Max did all or most of the trails at each and Reid and I did all that our rigid MTBs and grundles would allow. Max finished with a hard-earned 50 miles, Reid with 20, and I with 36. Max and I both crashed within the last quarter mile of the ride, which I think illustrates the level of bonk we had reached. It was a very good day.

making "cowboy coffee 2.0" while Max rides a black diamond trail

About the coffee: This week I used the MSR Mugmate as my brewing method. From a utilitarian perspective the Mugmate is hard to beat. This recipe is a kind of "cowboy coffee 2.0" where the grounds (I used a 13:1 ratio) steep in boiled water for 2-4 minutes and are then filtered through the Mugmate into your cup. Cowboy coffee gives a smooth cup that's less bitter and the Mugmate keeps the grounds from getting your mug and teeth. A good bean, well-roasted, and coarsely ground would give you a truly decadent cup of coffee by any coffee-snobbery standard. This week I just used the Aldi brand equivalent of Folgers and it was still tasty.

 

Date: 10.18.2020

Location: 35.0777° N, 85.1256° W

Bike: Shanina

Coffee: Beaumont Coffee Classic Roast (Aldi Brand), MSR Mugmate, 13:1

Miles: 35.98 (strava)

Reid on the quiet, pine needle covered singletrack of the Black Forest Trail at ESNP

Coffeeneuring 2020 Week #1: Rosemary Hill

Coffeeneuring Week 1: Rosemary Hill

Coffeeneuring: riding bikes, drinking coffee, seven times, seven places, seven weeks; there's some rules. 

Before I got off of instagram, one of the last posts I saw was something from @pondero about "coffeeneuring." Chris Johnson is one of my bikespirations so I looked into it. Riding bikes? Coffee outside? Weird, obscure, challenge for the every-man adventurer? I'm your huckleberry. 

Reid and I rode to "Rosemary Hill," an unofficial name for a bump on the river walk with lovely yellow wild plants (Bearded Beggars Tick?) and a vantage point of Lookout Mountain. Reid made coffee at home, probably something nice and undoubtedly made in a Chemex. I made coffee at the hill: cheap dark roast my mother-in-law gifted me brewed in an Aeropress. The Aeropress makes everything taste nice. After a good chat, Reid and I pedaled hard around the Strava segment "HoboShredzzz" and then parted ways.

I was interested in linking up two gravel roads via a steep, downhill, hiking only trail and so continued up the mountain via the Guild and Upper Truck trail systems. At trail's end, I hike-a-bike'd down the John Smartt Trail which was miserable. "This was a very bad idea," I wondered out loud, "But it'll be worth it... I think." And it was a good idea. The Lower Truck Trail had several large trees down which called for portages or detours but is still a nice ride through the woods along Chattanooga Creek and the gravel through Reflection Riding / Garden Road was the creme de la creme. A very good ride and a promising start of the Coffeeneuring2020 season. 

Date: 10.12.20

Location: 35°02'02.7"N 85°19'25.0"W

Bike: Shanina

Coffee: dark roast, Aeropress, inverted, 13:1   

Miles: 28.6 (strava)

 

Blasting down Rosemary Hill (photo by Reid)

 

 

The Birthday Challenge: THE ULTRA DADDY

This year was "Chet's Fourth Semi-Annual Birthday Challenge Bonanza" -- a number corresponding endurance objective to celebrate another trip around the sun. This year I ran my first ultramarathon, a 50K, or 31 miles for 31 years. No race. No medal. No t-shirt. Not even a bib number. Just a dumb idea I had about running circles in the woods. My good friend, climbing partner, and sufferfest connoisseur Josh ran Lookout Mountain's Big Daddy Loop three times with me -- THE ULTRA DADDY! 

Sidenote: I kind of burnt out on training and though I ran 13 trail miles pretty consistently, I never ran any more than that at a time. So everything I would experience after mile 13 was a mystery. Neat!

The first loop was legit fun. My wife Becca ran with us and it went by fast. I enjoyed listening to her and Josh talk about their nursing professions. We all felt really good, we ran at pretty good clip, and we had a really good time. Despite running in shorts I wore all throughout my training, I was experiencing some pretty bad chafing. Other than that, it was "Type 1 Fun."

My truck served as our "aid station" where Josh and I said goodbye to Becca then shoved some mini turkey wraps down our gullets, split a small can of Red Bull, refilled our water, dealt with our chafing issues and hit the trail again.

The second loop started off fun. Just the two of us, Josh and I talked about life and the meaning of life and social constructs and deconstruction and the appeal of Buddhism and so on and so forth. But somewhere around mile 17 or 18 we started talking more and more about what body parts were hurting the most. We made it back to the truck with stiff knees and high spirits and my sister-in-law Laura, her husband Max, and my sweet baby niece Ruby were in the parking lot.

Max joined us for the third loop, which was hell. It was tough to leave the comfort of my truck's tailgate and my right knee was really starting to yell at me but Max kept our spirits high. We were now running a little over a 14 minute mile which would devolve into a 15 minute mile and everything was a dull pain. At the marathon distance, however, Josh and I hit a wall. My right knee and my left foot were excruciating and my muscles were starting to really fatigue. The chafing that started in the first loop was starting to hurt again.

As we made the approach down toward the John Smartt trail ( a ≈ 1.7 mile uphill that gains ≈ 1,700 ft in elevation from the valley to the bluff) I was looking forward to my knees getting a "rest" going up. At Skyuka Spring we slammed some goo and made the now-ever-so-slow "speed hike" up the mountain. Of course, the rest was only a redistributing of pain from my knees to my quads.

At the crest of the bluff line, I was only 2 miles away from my Birthday Challenge goal and I was determined to "run" the rest of the way to 31. Those may be the hardest two miles of my life. Unfortunately, when we reached 31, we still had another two and a half miles to go before making the last turn downhill to the truck.

Somewhere, I remember Brendan Leonard (semi-rad.com) saying something about his goals for his next ultramarathon and wanting to "run most of the downhills." I remember thinking "the downhill? that's the easy part!" But that last 11 mile loop, I understood.

Each step downhill, no matter how small, felt like an actual endeavor in and of itself. We were passed by other runners and I wanted so desperately to protect my pride and tell them "this is our third loop!" or "we're on mile 28!" One pair of runners must have taken us for a trio of n00bs, asking us just a mile or so from the parking lot if we had headlamps because surely there was no way these two grandpas and one tall redhead would make it to their cars before dark!

Well, we didn't. But we did have headlamps. And when we got there, several friends were waiting, cheering us on and making a tunnel with their arms to run through. Josh and I cheers'd and exchanged hugs with folks before heading to Max and Laura's for pizza and ice cream. It was perfect. 

So very very very thankful for Rebecca who ran with us and planned the finish line and after party; Max who ran with us; Laura who drove up the mountain TWICE with baby Ruby (MVP!); Reid and Leah and Paul who showed up at the finish line to wish me a happy birthday; and to Josh who is always down to do hard things in the mountains with me. Next year, I think I'll go bouldering.

The ultra-daddy:

Summer Summary 2017 pt.II: Eastbound and Down

In July, my dad said goodbye to his mother. The whole Butterworth tribe returned to the family farm in Lynn Grove, Kentucky; we sang hymns and shared some stories. I was reminded of this Robert Capon quote from his lovely cookbook Supper of the Lamb: 

"Why can't the vast technological resources of America bring us up to at least the level of our grandmothers?" 

In the South, when people are good, we say he or she or they "are good people." Linda Butterworth "was good people" and she knew how to host company and throw a party. I hadn't hung out with my cousins in years, but in the hotel lobby we drank Cinerator, played checkers, and laughed a whole lot. "Mama B." would've loved it.

Butterworth Farm, Lynn Grove, Calloway County, KY

After the funeral Josh and I drove over to the Red River Gorge. It was the least I could do for Josh being a good sport for cutting his Colorado trip short and attending the funeral of an old lady he never met.

There are few things I love more than waking up in the cool, dark morning air for an alpine start. It's hard to convince southern climbers to partake in this mountain practice UNLESS they're planning to climb 28 routes for their 28th birthday. And I was psyched to belay Josh for another year on another birthday challenge.

Miguel's Pizza, Slade, Powell County, KY

Here's how it went down: 

• 28 pitches (5.1-5.10b)
• 20 sport routes
• 8 trad routes
• 13.08 miles hiked
• 1 Miguel's Pizza with chorizo, avocados, and extra cheese

This is the only picture (and incidentally, the only route I climbed that day) I got of Josh in the process: #yolofreesolo on "Kate's First Trad Lead." Don't ask what grade it is, it doesn't matter. Okay, it's 5.1. 

"Kate's First Trad Lead," Muir Valley, Wolfe County, KY

After Kentucky, it was to Nashville to attend my girlfriend's brother's wedding. There were free margaritas and there was this girl. It was awesome. 

Nashville, TN

After the wedding, I stayed in Nashville for a bit for some very solid date-days. Becca and I looked at some fancy aboriginal art, ate some super delicious tacos, and climbed some chossy limestone. Kings Bluff is where I did my first lead-climb and Becca did her's while we were there!  

Kings Bluff, TN

July started off the same way it did last summer: at the Obed. This time, with Eli and Julia and their friends. It rained... a lot. But we squeezed in some climbing and a lot of laughs. Climbing with Eli is a rare treasure since he went back into the military. Apparently learning how to fly helicopters in Florida keeps him from climbing very much. He still on-sighted 5.10 in the rain though. Here, Julia charges up a soggy and steep warm-up at Little Clear. 

Little Clear Creek, TN

The rest of July was spent chasing shade at Pep Boys, Sunset, and Deep Creek. And I convinced Andrew to drive up to the Obed back to Little Clear for some good ol' clips and whips on steep jugs. I day-flashed some things I on-sighted years ago and I hung on some things I on-sighted years ago. That swimming hole though...

Little Clear Creek, TN

At the end of it all, I took Becca way down south to see my homeland. My folks made fish tacos, grilled shrimp and clams from the Gulf; locally raised sausage; corn on the cob, potatoes, and fried okra from the garden. I took Becca to one of my favorite places -- the Wacissa River.

I spent a lot of weekends canoeing and camping along this beautiful spring-fed river and it was so fun to hear her coo about alligators and  how clear the water is.
 

Wacissa River, FL

She didn't hate it...

Big Blue Spring on the Wacissa River, FL

*fin.