Trenton to Chattanooga by Trail: River to Clouds Route Completed
Photo courtesy of Lula Lake Land Trust – A trail runner on the Lula Lake segment of the River to Clouds Route.
By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor
From Sitton’s Gulch to the Guild-Hardy Trail in St. Elmo to the Chattanooga Riverwalk to the South Chickamauga Creek Greenway, the adventurous among us can now hike, run, or bike from Trenton to East Ridge, Chattanooga.
Beginning with a vision several decades ago, the River to Clouds Route (RCR) has been completed, thanks to Thrive Regional Partnership and many partnering groups. This route connects Cloudland Canyon to Chattanooga’s Riverwalk, which then connects to the South Chickamauga Creek Greenway.
The RCR (the Lookout Mountain portion from Sitton’s Gulch to St. Elmo) is 34 miles, while the Riverwalk portion is 13 miles, and the South Chickamauga portion is an additional 12 miles.
Photo courtesy of Thrive Regional Partnership – The RCR logo marks the route along the many Lookout Mountain trails.
Partners in the endeavor joined Thrive for a ribbon cutting on the morning of November 6th to celebrate the official opening of the trail route. The route is marked with the blue and white RCR logo on trees across the mountain.
Thrive published the following press release:
“The River to Clouds Route (RCR) is open to bicycle and foot travel, consisting of single and double-track trails. The route provides challenges to the most seasoned adventure mountain bikers, runners, and hikers. Adventurers can expect to encounter rocky technical sections, scenic overlooks, tumbling mountain streams, waterfalls, hidden hollers, unique rock formations, abandoned mines, and several historical sites.
“Regional trail systems such as the RCR bring a multitude of benefits to area economies. By strengthening pathway connections between communities, people, and places, projects like this promote a robust tourism economy across county and state lines.
“According to the 2020 Regional Outdoor Recreation Survey led by Thrive Regional Partnership and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the typical expenditure for outdoor recreation in the tri-state region is $5,890 per person annually. Key findings from the survey also indicate that Walker and Dade counties are areas of high potential for growth in outdoor recreation. Routes like the RCR open a new opportunity for nearby towns and cities to gain an economic benefit for local businesses serving the route’s adventurers.”
Regarding tourism impact in Dade County, Sandy White (Alliance for Dade president and CEO) added, “The River to Clouds Route will make a big impact on the community. Cloudland Canyon sees about 500,000 visitors a year, and the Alliance is working closely with the park to get visitors into the rest of Dade County. RCR should increase local traffic into the county, from Chattanooga and the region, into Cloudland. We look forward to working with the park and Thrive to promote this section of trail.”
She noted that the state of Georgia reports that an annual $20 million is brought to Dade through tourism, not including short-term rentals.
Thrive’s release continued, “‘We are enthusiastic about this collaborative effort which will engage residents and visitors alike with Chattanooga’s iconic and beautiful National Park places, steeped in Native American and Civil War history,’ stated Tricia King Mims, executive director of National Park Partners for Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and Moccasin Bend. ‘Outdoor tourism is a critical driver to Chattanooga’s local economy, as visitation to our National Park supported 991 private sector jobs and provided more than $81 million to our local economy in 2022 alone.’
“The RCR represents the impressive collaboration of six different public and private property holders on Lookout Mountain in an initiative facilitated by Thrive Regional Partnership. Embodying the collective efforts of land managers on Lookout Mountain over the past 20+ years, the RCR connects public lands managed by Lookout Mountain Conservancy, the National Park Service, Lula Lake Land Trust, Georgia-Alabama Land Trust, Covenant College, and Georgia State Parks. The collective branding of the project was funded by the Riverview Foundation, and GIS expertise was provided by the Interdisciplinary Geospatial Technology (IGT) Lab of UTC.
Photo courtesy of Thrive Regional Partnership – RCR partners from Covenant College, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, National Parks Service, Lula Lake Land Trust, Lookout Mountain Conservancy, UTC IGTLab, and Thrive Regional Partnership cut the ribbon on the newly opened River to Clouds Route (RCR).
“‘Connecting downtown Chattanooga to Cloudland Canyon State Park has long been a vision of our organization, starting with our founders in 1994, and we couldn’t be more proud to see it come to life,”’ says Cody Roney, executive director of Lula Lake Land Trust. ‘This project wouldn’t have been possible without collaboration between multiple landowners and stakeholders. The RCR will add another incredible, long-distance mountain biking and hiking route to the region’s already extensive trail systems, bringing people from all over to enjoy the beautifully designed trails and scenery of Lookout Mountain.’”
Visit www.lulalake.org/river-to-clouds-route to access a map of the route and for information about the $5 one-day permits. (Accessing the Lula Lake Core Preserve portion of the route requires a permit).
Cloudland Canyon’s usual parking fees/annual pass information applies to explorers accessing the RCR.
