John Shearer: Exploring And Searching For Greenways, Part 23 – Handsome Chickamauga Dam Park And Mysterious Lake Junior

  • Saturday, January 30, 2021
  • John Shearer

With Friday’s beautiful and rich blue sky and not overly cold temperatures, I decided to go check out another greenway or park within Hamilton County.

 

Because life was once again busy, or maybe due to the fact I did not get started soon enough, I headed to the recreation area on the northeast end of Chickamauga Dam not far from my Northgate Mall area home about mid-afternoon.

 

I hurriedly took a few pictures as I jogged around and before I needed to go to a couple of other places before suppertime.

 

But you know what? It was still a wonderful experience.

Maybe it was due to the blue skies or panoramic views of the water, dam, open fields and tree-covered hillsides, but I totally had fun and wished I could have stayed longer. This was also partly because I have been able to start lightly jogging again after breaking my upper arm on Christmas Day and having subsequent surgery on Dec. 31.

 

The dam area I visited is not the Tennessee Riverwalk that starts on the south side of Highway 153, a place I have already written about. Instead, it is the older recreation area on the north side that is very visible to freeway motorists and features the small summertime beach and swim area.

 

This area that has long been an aesthetically pleasing visible gem for motorists on 153 is quite popular during the summertime, especially on weekends, when swimmers and picnic goers congregate. 

 

It also has some playground equipment added in the last couple of summers that has been an additional amenity and draw. The equipment was placed on a flat area near the sandy beach at a place where some former Chattanooga Free Press colleagues and I used to play touch football in the late 1980s.

 

Some cross-country races are also held there in the fall.

 

But in actuality and despite its high visibility from Highway 153, the park is probably minimally visited on most days at least 6 or 8 months of the year. As a result, it has an almost isolated feel to it.

 

This is enhanced because it seems to be cut off from the Riverwalk across 153 and Chickamauga Dam, although I did inspect to see if an open connection or passable link existed under the Thrasher Bridge.

 

And as someone who has lived in Chattanooga off and on for decades, I in the past used to hear whispers or maybe even news reports of male same sex encounters or hookups taking place in the restrooms there, particularly in the days when the gay community was forced undercover. Although I respect and accept people of all sexual persuasions, as long as no laws are being broken, that speaks to the historic isolation issue of the park during certain times of the year.

 

Like at any park, though, especially one that might be lightly visited at the time you are there, one simply has to be vigilant and smart and observant here. And that includes not putting your pocketbook or Rolex watch on the front seat of your car for all to see while you are exercising.

 

When I was there on Friday, I saw maybe five or so other individuals or families walking and enjoying the park and felt completely safe.

 

And the park looked simply beautiful. While people might associate it with summer, I found plenty of winter beauty here. That included the woods on the east end of the big field, the neat tree-covered hills elsewhere, the one giant tree straddling the entrance road and the meadow, and the handsome views of the water and Chickamauga Dam.

 

And in January, it is peacefully devoid of the noisy sounds of motorboats and jet skis, save for one boat that gently pulled out of the adjacent marina before turning around. 

 

One view on top of the hill on the north end of the park by a picnic pavilion offers an especially nice glance of the lake looking toward Knoxville. It is perhaps not even noticed by those hanging around the playground and beach. A more westerly view through the woods and toward the dam in this area is also breath-taking.  

 

If more park land can be found across the water slip where the boat had come from the marina, I did not explore it.

 

What seems a little mysterious here is what the name of the park is. I assume it is owned by TVA, but I could not find anything online or maybe on the signage there, unless it was on a single marker.

 

I assume it is called something like the TVA Chickamauga Dam Recreation Area. Others historically have simply said they are going swimming at the dam.

 

When I was young and enjoyed swimming at the private club pool at Valleybrook and could enjoy a summer trip to the beach, I probably looked down on people who went swimming there.

 

But as an older adult who now knows well all the challenges of feeding oneself and family or trying to pay all the bills, I get envious of people taking a swim there when I pass on 153 on summer days. I keep telling myself I am going to take a free jump in the water sometime soon to cool off.

 

I also don’t know much history of the park and could not find anything online, although I am sure the Chattanooga Public Library would have some old news articles about its opening if I investigated it a little more deeply.

 

Based on the older restrooms and other structures that were formerly there, I assume it was probably opened sometime in the mid-20th century, like the 1950s or ‘60s.

 

Chickamauga Dam opened in 1940, and the Thrasher Bridge was built about 1954 (and widened in the mid-1980s).

 

What I like about this park land is all the grass that allows for jogging on soft surfaces for someone like me, who prefers that to running on concrete sidewalks. And with the hills, one can get quickly winded if that is what you desire, although I have enjoyed in the past jogging back and forth on the long field – but far enough away from the noise and exhausts of the zooming freeway automobiles.

 

Regardless, the views for a jogger or walker are great.

 

Of course, many visit this park for picnicking and light wading in the water. They are simply trying to get their level of happiness and enjoyment, not their heart rate, up.

 

This park might have more picnic tables than any other park within Hamilton County. That includes the mid-century concrete style of tables that were obviously built to last.

 

One new activity I did at the park on Friday was to take the seemingly also new concrete path beside 153 up to under the Thrasher Bridge, where the old and fenced-off historic dam building with the art deco “Chickamauga” writing on it is.

 

I wanted to see if an uninterrupted pathway to the Riverwalk exists. And one does, although a jogger, walker or bicycle rider would have to zig zag for a couple hundred yards to get from the end of the Riverwalk to below the bridge.

 

I was thinking maybe those in charge could build a stairway where some of the sloping bric-a-brac rock is to shorten the connection. 

 

After getting back to my car, I wanted to check out Lake Junior for the first time. So, I got back on Amnicola Highway and quickly turned right on the other side of Highway 153.

 

I had never been to Lake Junior but had always heard the sad stories of people drowning there. 

 

TVA and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency open it up for fishing only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It is actually a very pretty lake butted almost up to Amnicola Highway.

 

Some information online said it has been stocked with trout during the winter months.

 

On Friday, maybe 8 or 10 people were lined up around the lake fishing.

 

What caught my eye as a non-fisherman were the older and closed restroom building in some overgrown woods, and some dilapidated picnic tables also behind the overgrowth. A portable toilet had been placed by the parking lot.

 

There was also a faded sign talking about the drowning deaths and encouraging visitors not to go swimming there, or they might be the next victims. Perhaps the lake is deeper than expected at places.

 

But despite the fact the area around it could have been cleaned up better, and it did not have the well-manicured look of the recreation area across the highway, the lake did have a stunning wintertime beauty to it.

 

And I realized most Chattanoogans have probably not really pulled off to examine it.

 

As I got back in my car, I also remembered the nearby hillside on that side of Highway 153, where I used to see sledders during snows before TVA let the hill grow up, perhaps to reduce liability concerns.

 

As I went home amid the still-blue sky about an hour after first arriving, I was glad to have visited these two unique gems that were around long before Chattanoogans started talking seriously about riverfront redevelopment or becoming an outdoor city.

 

* * * * *      

 

To see the previous story in the series, read here. 

https://www.chattanoogan.com/2021/1/16/421671/John-Shearer-Exploring-And-Searching.aspx

 

* * * * *

 

Jcshearer2@comcast.net

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