100-foot Julia Falls is inaccessible on foot. Flowing from a sheer bluff on the side of a vast canyon in the Tennessee River Gorge, a way to hike to the cataract remains uncharted. Just minutes from downtown Chattanooga, Signal Mountain is a maze of crossing roads, some so steep and narrow trucks are not allowed to traverse them. Our phones’ GPS apps struggled to locate Signal Point, which is the trailhead to the Julia Falls Lookout. Ethan from New York City took our photo. He was traveling with his Parisian wife Mathilde. We meet the nicest people on hiking trails.
Signal Point was a Union stronghold during the Civil War and offers a commanding view of the Tennessee River west of Chattanooga. From the historic site, we entered the trailhead through a gap in a chainlink fence. Much of Signal Mountain is privately owned, complicating access to the trails that traverse the gorge’s walls.
A wicked assemblage of ramps, steps and stones, aptly named “The Mousetrap,” are patched together in switchbacks that aid in descending the first 150 feet into the gorge.
Not all deadfalls make it to the ground. This stretch of the Cumberland Trail snakes through giant boulders and fallen trees, while threading between dangerous bluffs.
From the Julia Falls Lookout, it’s hard to judge the vastness of this gorge.
Across the canyon, we can just make out the 100-foot-tall Julia Falls.
Julia Falls’ initial 100-foot plunge forms a series of awesome cascades when it crashes into the rocks that lead to the bottom of the gorge. Without the leaves in winter, the entire watercourse is visible.
Karen has “Eagle-Seeking Eyes.” She spotted this beauty on the point across the gorge from our bird’s-eye view at Julia Falls Lookout.
Lookouts make awesome lunch spots with a view. A catnap after eating, helps with the climb back out of the canyon. The haze hung heavy above the Tennessee Valley and it reached 82-degrees making the sultry day perfect for lofty loafing.