July 2021

To visit the Chickamauga and Chattanooga sites, the best place is to go to Lookout Mountain.

The drive to Lookout Mountain Battlefield in Tennessee isn’t easy. You go from city streets to tight neighborhoods all while winding up a tall road higher and higher, crossing from the Tennessee to the Georgia border in and out.

But once you get there, it’s a fantastic view, complete with cannons, the Tennessee river, and Chattanooga sparkling in the distance. It’s known for being the “battle above the clouds.”

The fortress, Point Park, looks like a miniature castle, and the grounds past it to see these views are lush and green. It’s $10 to get in on the honor system, but the Rangers were there to make sure you paid! Park for free next to the visitor center if you get there early enough, if not, you’ll have to park in the streets.

Next, it’s off to Russell Cave, which is an hour away in Alabama and where archeologists found that people had been using it as a shelter for over 10,000 years. It was first excavated in 1953.

There was a small visitor center and a friendly Ranger who told us to follow the wooden walkway that takes you right to the entrance, about a 15 minute walk. He did warn us that you were not allowed to enter the cave.

On the vending machine, there was a warning of snakes:

And a sculpture of a deer that makes you do a double-take:

The entrance is still neat and you can read about its history:

Onward down south through Alabama!