GLEN FALLS ON LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN IN TENNESSEE

by | Nov 21, 2020 | Hiking, Travel

Just 7.5 miles from downtown Chattanooga, parking for Glen Falls trailhead is a small space on the edge of Ochs Highway. Go early or you will scrounge for room in the dangerous, nearby spots along the side of this busy road.

This is a two-mile out and back trail with the falls at .5-miles in. It’s not steep and and has lots of cool rockslides and formations along the way. The trail past the falls is not spectacular.
At .4-miles the first glimpse of the small falls below the main pools at the base are deceiving.
This bridge spans pools that make cool swimming holes in the summer, but the actual falls are hidden in a crevasse out of sight. You can hear them, but only the very bottom is visible.
Just past the bridge are rock steps that lead to a small, natural cave at the top. A deep layer of leaves covered these steps when we passed by and we did not find them until our hike back.
We would have been very disappointed had we not seen these falls from the top.
From 30-feet above the bridge pools, the falls have cut a cleft through granite walls and are well worth the short climb to see. The visit to Glen Falls got even better further up the hill.
The creek that feeds Glen Falls has many small cascades. The water was low enough to make hopping across boulders and hiking to the top easy.
Many of the trees already shed their leaves, but there was still plenty of good leaf peeping and great colors to make this hike a fall special.