Chattanooga Area Waterfalls

It was about an hour to Falling Water Falls. This waterfall is over 100 feet, but it’s really hard to get a good view. The trail leads out to the cliff, but you really can’t see the waterfall from here.

The view sure is nice though.

The sheer cliffs are too dangerous to get out on. I heard there’s a way to the base, but I had no idea how to do it. So we crossed the creek above the waterfall and found a cliff to get out on for a decent view.

Then we headed back and continued on to North Chickamauga Creek Gorge State Natural Area. We got on the Cumberland Trail and followed the creek upstream. At the split, we went left to stay on Cumberland Trail and follow closely to the creek.

After crossing Hogskin Branch, the trail headed up very steeply. At the top, we turned left and followed an old mining road for a ways. In about 1.5 miles from the start, we came to Strip Mine Falls, a scenic 20-foot waterfall in two streams.

Unfortunately, there was a lot of deadfall and the second stream was flowing much.

We got some pictures and started heading back. At Hogskin Branch, we stayed on Hogskin Branch Loop to head back to the car. It was getting late and we still had one more waterfall. Fortunately, this one is in a cave, so daylight doesn’t matter. We headed into Chattanooga to Ruby Falls. This waterfall is very commercialized, not my favorite thing, but a 140-foot underground waterfall is too impressive to be missed. After paying admission, we took an elevator 260 feet down into the heart of Lookout Mountain. As we walked through the cave, our tour guide told us about the history of the cave and how it came to be developed.

The cave itself was really beautiful. They use lights to make stuff look psychedelic, but the cave formations were just beautiful.

There were a number of interesting features in the cave, including stalactites, stalagmites, and columns.

Many of these features have names like the tobacco leaves and steak and potatoes.

Soon, we reached the amazing Ruby Falls. The cave is lit up with different colored lights to give the waterfall the appearance of changing colors.

It was very beautiful. After this we headed back. We got stuck in traffic heading back to Cleveland and got back so late, we just had Wendys for dinner.