It was a beautiful day and four intrepid hikers, including
Betsy, Tom, Tammy, and Randy, had a fine time exploring not only the best known
sights in the Lula Lake Land Trust but also some lesser known areas. The first part
of the hike was a first for most of us—walking down the road from the
relatively new parking lot close to the entrance off Lula Lake Road. After
about ¾ of a mile, we arrived at the old parking lot, crossed the bridge over
Rock Creek, and headed south on the aptly named South Creek Trail. This is a
very pleasant trail, first following the southern part of Rock Creek, which
placidly wends its way down through the wood with a few gurgles here and there,
giving no hint of what is to come a little ways downstream.After a half-mile or so, the trail takes a sharp turn to
head gradually uphill along the eastern flank of the creek. We turned right onto
the uphill Ovenbird Trail (where did that name come from?) and right again onto
the Turkey Trail (hey, an ovenbird!) to continue uphill, arriving at the top to
encounter the Bluff Trail near its southern terminus. The geography here is
rather odd: Rock Creek somehow managed to dig itself a trench that parallels
the mountain bluff for at least a few miles before the creek decided to finally
plow its way over the edge of the mountain. Thus the Bluff Trail traverses a
little ridge, with the escarpment overlooking Chattanooga Valley to the east
and a gentle wooded downslope to the west. As anyone who’s been here knows,
there are spectacular views to the east, with Flintstone GA in the valley below
us and one mountainous ridge after another rippling off to the eastern horizon.
We envied several folks stringing up their hammocks, settling in to enjoy the
mesmerizing view.At the northern end of the Bluff Trail, there are three
choices for hiking back down to the creek. Naturally, our trip leader Betsy
chose to take us down the short but attention-getting High Adventure Trail. The
latter includes a couple of steep sections, with knotted ropes aiding in the
descent; all reached the bottom without mishap. We took a short right jog on
North Creek Trail to take the relatively new Lula Falls Trail, which is a
trail-building marvel that makes its way by cliffs and around boulders and rock
fields to arrive at Lula Falls. This 120-ft falls was in rare form due to all
the rain we’ve had lately, with its spray spreading far and wide. This had the
unfortunate effect of making the downstream rocks exceptionally slippery.
Naturally, the best photo ops were to be had by going over some of these rocks.
It was hard to follow the trip leader’s motto of, “Never trust a wet rock,”
since almost all of them were wet. One of our number scared the rest of us by
slipping into a crack between two boulders, but despite some loss of blood and
getting very wet, had no trouble hiking the rest of the way out. This included
scrambling up the Old Falls Trail, which goes straight up a series of wooden
steps back to the North Creek Trail. We headed back on this trail, with a stop
at the gem of Lula Lake. This lake (really a pond) is a beautiful bluish-green
color, surrounded by cliffs and set off by a dazzling white cascade of water
plunging into it.Once the highlights of the hike were behind us, we slogged
our way back along the creek and up the road to our cars. A fine time was had
by all. If you would like to see a few pictures from this hike, click here.