On Tuesday nine hikers including Delores, Ginny, Dorothy, Jane, Will, Tom, Jane K, Renee and hike leader Betsy, all revved up to go hiking on Raccoon Mountain a couple of days after it had snowed in the higher elevations. (On that day we valley dwellers had to put up with temperatures in the mid-thirties and steady rain all day. Yuck.) Perhaps we would see a winter wonderland on Raccoon! Alas, TVA had other plans. When we reached the road to the very top of the mountain, we found the gate closed. Presumably, the authorities feared for our safety in wintry conditions. (Snow is a four-letter word in this part of the country.) After some consideration of similar hikes in the area, the hike leader rounded up the troops and we headed toward Sunset Rock and the Bluff Trail on Lookout Mountain. Fortunately, the leader’s brain turned on before we had even gotten off Raccoon Mountain: “Wouldn’t the NPS be on the same wavelength as TVA?” Sure enough, it was. A phone call confirmed that all the trailheads on the top of Lookout were closed. The group huddled for a while in a parking lot, tossing around some possible alternatives. (The trip leader ignored suggestions about going off for a beer.) We settled on Guild Trail, with its trailhead off Ochs near the bottom of Lookout. This trail follows part of the route of the old Broad Gauge Railroad line, which was built in the late 1880’s to take passengers from downtown Chattanooga to the top of Lookout Mountain. The line ended at the Lookout Inn, a majestic four-story hotel opened in 1890. Unfortunately, both the railroad line and the hotel ran into grave financial difficulties. The line stopped service in the early 1900’s; the hotel burnt down in a spectacular fire on November 17, 1908.
We ourselves had no difficulty hiking up the peaceful and gently rising Guild trail, from which we also checked out a relatively new side trail to a series of domesticated climbing boulders. The trail builders had spiffed up each of the latter with names and nicely tiled patios, so that boulderers (yes, this is a word) would have flat areas for their crash pads. It being a Tuesday, we did see any boulderers in action. (These spider-people do the most amazing things, including crawling on the undersides of overhangs by gripping the tiniest convexities and concavities with their super-strong fingers.)
Feeling feisty after our boulder tour, we chugged up Guild Trail across two railroad trestles, through the Ruby Falls parking lot, and into the woods. At the old railroad switchback toward Cravens House, we saw CCC Camp Demaray, with a clear winter view of the remnants of some of its buildings. This camp was one of about 2600 camps established by the federal government, eventually employing half a million young men during the Great Depression. They received food, shelter, clothing, and a small salary for their work on conservation and development projects. The workers at Camp Demaray built many of the Lookout Mountain trails that are such a blessing to us, along with attractive rock walls and stone stairs.
We continued beyond the switchback, spotting tidbits of snow (!!) lurking in the woods before we turned around at the Rifle Pits Trail. We made amazing time going down, down, down to our cars at the Guild Trail parking lot on Ochs Highway. A fine time was had by all