City-designated greenways in Hixson will link the 2,000-mile Great Eastern Trail through Chattanooga, adding depth to Chattanooga’s park city identity made official with its National Park City designation announced earlier this month.
Tim Hupp, president of the Great Eastern Trail Association, told Friends of Hixson that Chattanooga is the biggest city by far on the Great Eastern route from New York to Alabama.
“This is great for Chattanooga,” said Blythe Bailey, the city’s director of design and connectivity for parks and outdoors. “People just want to go for a walk. That makes people happy,” he said.
“We are considered a city and a park,” Mr. Bailey said.
Mr. Hupp met with Mayor Tim Kelly on Tuesday with a request for basic and creative Great Eastern Trail signage through town, the best way to spread the word, he said.
“The route should be marked so people know that it’s there,” Mr. Hupp said.
The Great Eastern enters the region via the Cumberland Trail at North Chickamauga Creek Gorge State Park. Greenway will be pieced together from there to Greenway Farm, but Mr. Bailey said city officials will prioritize finalization of the next section, southward from Greenway Farm, across C.B. Robinson Bridge at Dupont Parkway to the Tennessee Riverpark.
“We can’t do all of it at once,” he said.
With this Hixson link, the Great Eastern has a sure path to its southern terminus at Flagg Mountain, the southernmost peak more than 1,000 feet high, said Friends of Hixson board member Linda Hixon.
“The Great Eastern uses what’s available,” Ms. Hixon said, whether foot trails, multi-use paths or even roads. “A lot of possibilities. Just need funding,” she said. Mayor Kelly has long said he wants to connect the Riverwalk to the Cumberland Trail, Ms. Hixon said. The Hixson greenway is made of easements, donations to the city and donations to the North Chickamauga Creek Conservancy.
Clear Creek Church of Christ has committed to open its property along North Chickamauga Creek to connect to tracts at Longview Road, donated by Food City and Sujen Plaza, on to Athens Distributing.
“They have scouted out a way around the church,” Ms. Hixon said. “The church is actually eager.”
From there the trail will connect to easements along Access Road, at North River Commerce Center and Kordsa, to Cleveland T. Grimes soccer complex on the Tennessee River and over C.B. Robinson Bridge at Dupont Parkway, all the way to the Riverpark.
“TVA has been a very willing collaborator all along,” Ms. Hixon said. The Chickamauga Lock construction site will eventually be restored to beauty when the lock project is complete in 2031, she said.
Susan Crowell, board member at the North Chickamauga Creek Conservancy, told Friends of Hixson that the Conservancy will work together with city greenways to build a community of water and shore. There is canoe access at the donated Food City property, she said. Hiking and paddling together in the same space creates the best atmosphere, she said.
South from Chattanooga, the Great Eastern picks up the 34-mile River to Clouds Route managed by Lookout Mountain Conservancy, the National Park Service, Lula Lake Land Trust, Covenant College and others to Cloudland Canyon State Park in Georgia.
Ms. Hixon said campsites for Great Eastern through-hikers are scarce in this region. The North Chickamauga and Cumberland state parks offer backcountry camping, and she hopes for new campsites at Stone Fort boulder field on Mowbray Mountain. City pickings are more slim, but Ms. Hixson said the Crash Pad hostel in Southside Chattanooga may fit the mood.
The Great Eastern Trail Association was formed in 2007. It shares the vision of Benton MacKaye, who mapped the Appalachian Trail and has a namesake trail of his own, to form a network of “braided” trails along the whole Appalachian Mountains. The AT is a component trail of the Great Eastern Trail for 120 miles.
The Great Eastern Trail Association is currently identifying component trails at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park and along the Alabama Pinhoti Trail, possibly through Little River Canyon National Preserve.