Nature Day: Raccoon Mountain

Most of our nature days are typically on the mountain where we live. But the Chattanooga area has a lot to offer, so sometimes we try to adventure a little farther from home.

On this particular day I decided to take Jack to Raccoon Mountain. This is a TVA managed area that is special because it has a pump station in the inside of the mountain.

TVA makes power by pumping water up from the Tennessee River to a reservoir at the top of the mountain and then releases the water to generate power. The reservoir also collects rain water that can be released.

This particular day was overcast with a chance of rain. We took our chances!

We started by driving to the back of the mountain, stopping to look at the huge turbines before driving up the mountain.

At the top we stopped at the Visitor's Center for a view of the river and valley below before heading inside to watch a video to learn more about how the pump station works.

There was also a lot of history about TVA. This spot is definitely worth a visit for its educational value.

We checked out the switch yard outside of the Visitor's Center. If you like to mountain bike or trail run and hike, this mountain is a great place. There is a mountain bike trail that runs through the switch yard here and many trails that circle the mountain.

We hopped in the car and drove around the top of the reservoir to the Laurel Point parking lot. I ran a 5K here shortly after Jack was born.

Jack and I wandered on a ADA trail, easy and you can't get lost. Our nature study was about wind so we would stop periodically to access what we thought the wind was doing and use the Beaufort Wind Force Scale to try to determine what we thought the wind was doing.

The trailhead also had more information about the water cycle in the Tennessee Valley, which was very interesting.

Our final stop was the East Overlook to get a view of Lookout Mountain and the city of Chattanooga. We had another successful day outside, we learned a lot and we didn't get rained on! (that started after we got back in the car :)

Raccoon Mountain is special to me because Daniel and I lived in the Raccoon Mountain campground for 3 months when we first moved to the Tennessee Valley back in 2010. I spent a lot of time walking Sophie on these trails while Daniel was at work.

Notes from the hike:
Location: Raccoon Mountain (bottom of mountain, Visitor Center, drove around reservoir, stopped at Laurel Point and East Overlook)
Date: Nov. 30, 2017
Time: 10:30-12:0opm
Weather: 50F, overcast
Beaufort Wind Force Scale: 0-1 (calm, light wind)

Jack's drawing in his Nature Journal

Check back on Thursdays to see where our nature studies have taken us...
Previous Nature Hikes with Jack:
September: Green Gorge, Althaus Park, and Mabbit Springs
October: Reflection Riding Center (Monday Nature Day with friends) ⎮ Joyce Kilmer Wilderness Among Trees (hike we did as a family) ⎮ Greenway Farms Nature Day (family archery lesson and hike)
November: Glen Falls ⎮ Mushroom Rock (with Mommy and Daddy)

Thirty-Seven

Daniel and I both turned 37 this year. Thirty-seven feels a little anticlimactic. Just a little closer to 40, which is hard to fathom... my brain still feels college-aged but almost two decades of experience as an adult reminds me that I am well past those college years.

We didn't do a whole lot for Daniel's birthday – it was on a Wednesday and he was in the middle of long days and deadlines at work. But one of the perks of homeschool is being able to take the kids to pick up donuts and drop by Daniel's work to surprise him in the middle of the day.

For my birthday, Daniel and I were in need of a night out, so I texted our babysitter and cheekily said that we were due for our "quarterly date." Thankfully she was available on my birthday. Shortly after we made plans to have a sitter come, a college friend invited us to a chili supper at her house. So we decided to drop by as part of our evening away from the kids.

Our date started with being a little too early for the friend party, so we drove up Raccoon Mountain and took in the views of the Tennessee Valley from that side of Chattanooga. The leaves were slightly past their peak, but it was still beautiful.

We arrived at our friend's house in time for chili and visiting. Our friend found a cupcake and "?" candle and had everyone sing to me, which was nice. I honestly can't remember the last time I was sung to by a group for my birthday (my parents and siblings typically call and sing to me on the phone). After my cupcake, we enjoyed a little time around the campfire before continuing our date.

For our third stop, I asked if we could drive up Lookout Mountain to Sunset Rock for a different view of the city. It was a pretty drive up mountain #2, but the Sunset Rock parking lot closed at sunset and we didn't want to get a ticket, so we settled for driving down Ochs Hwy for a beautiful view of downtown Chattanooga. It was dark and the lights of the city were twinkling and the moon was full and stunning over the city.

We drove downtown to get hot chocolate and dessert #2 at The Hot Chocolatier. Thankfully it wasn't too busy and we were able to sip our decadent drinks in one of the booths in the back. When we left the Hot Chocolatier, I requested we make one final stop before heading home to our boys.

So we drove up Signal Mountain (duh), but stopped at one of the parking areas on the Brow to look at downtown Chattanooga and the Valley from yet a third perspective. Three mountains, three views of Chattanooga for my birthday. We live in a special place and feel incredibly blessed to call this area home.

Round the Rim – 5K

I have discovered that the best way for me to get motivated to run is to sign up for a race. I use the term "race" loosely as I don't really consider myself to be racing, more like I am attending an organized running event. I am just thankful for the ability to run, albeit at my tortoise-like pace.

About two weeks ago I noticed on Facebook that a friend had signed up for the Round the Rim 5K at Raccoon Mountain and I thought, "I should totally sign up for that."

In true Cheree fashion, I didn't have make time to train and before I knew it, I only had a week to get in a few runs. Not wanting to show up completely unprepared, I somehow managed to squeeze in four runs last week and then rested yesterday.

Logistically speaking, getting to this race was a bit of a challenge.

1) We live in Central time. The race was located in Eastern.
 

2) You have to show up 30 minutes early for this race because they close access to the rim for the safety of the runners.
 

3) I have a 6-month old baby. Did I mention that he is still nursing full time {i.e. I have never pumped or given him a bottle}?

 

Here is an overview of how we dealt with the logistics and how my run went. 

1) Daniel graciously agreed to get up at 4:50 am Central with me in order to drive me to the race. There were several reasons for him to go: He is used to getting up early for work. He could drive when I was exhausted {before and after}. He could watch Jack so I wouldn't have to push Jack in the stroller. *I actually train with Jack in the stroller, but the thought of pushing Jack up a hill that lasted for 0.4 miles was a daunting one.

2) Getting to the course by the cutoff time meant that we had to leave our house by 5:15am CST. I'm not gonna lie, this was tough.

3) Since we left so early we woke Jack up for a quick diaper change and stuck him in the car. We hoped that he could wait until Chattanooga to eat. We arrived at the starting point of the race by 7:20am EST and I nursed Jack in the car while Daniel went to find my running packet. This actually worked out really well. Jack hung out in the stroller with Daniel while I ran and then he napped when we went to eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel, post race. I had to feed him in the car one last time before heading home, but it really wasn't too difficult to make work. By the time we got home we were all ready for naps.

As for the actual run... my main goals were to 1) not walk at all and 2) to finish before the first 10K person did. I met both of these goals.

Kicking off the race was a long hill that lasted for about a half a mile with 110 ft of elevation gain. Not fun. Once we reached the top of the hill, it was a full mile of flat running on the rim. And then you finish with a downhill. It was a truly beautiful run with views of the Tennessee Valley Gorge and the Raccoon Mountain Reservoir. To top it off, the weather was perfect: cool and no humidity.

 

Toward the end of my race, I was getting tired when the song, Another One Bites The Dust, came on my iPod. When you are tired, this is a terrible song to listen to. It would have been different if I was passing people, but for a few minutes I felt like I was going to be the one biting the dust.

As for finishing before the 10K. I did it. Just barely. The winner of the 10K came in right behind me. But I am cool with that. I know that am a slow runner and I am just thankful to be able to get out and run a 5K, six months after giving birth.

Thank you Daniel for making today possible! For being my personal cheerleader and giving up sleep on your only day to sleep in this week!

And for letting me indulge in breakfast at Cracker Barrel after my run!

When I got home, I checked MapMyRun to see the actual distance. According to MMR, it seemed to be more like 3.5 miles instead of 3.1. All I gotta say is that the middle mile seemed kind of long to me...

My race results: gun time was 38:18 and net {real} time was 37:58.

Benadryl + Mountain Biking = Not So Good

Friday afternoon Daniel and I decided to head over to check out the single track at the TVA Pump Station at Raccoon Mountain.



I believe that this facility is one of a kind. According to the TVA web site: The plant works like a large storage battery. During periods of low demand, water is pumped from Nickajack Reservoir at the base of the mountain to the reservoir built at the top. It takes 28 hours to fill the upper reservoir. When demand is high, water is released via a tunnel drilled through the center of the mountain to drive generators in the mountain’s underground power plant.



Thanks to Sorba Chattanooga, there are well maintained single track trails that circle the TVA reservoir including beginner, intermediate and advanced trails.



We had originally planned on a Friday morning ride, but Daniel was suffering from bug bites on his feet and opted to take a couple Benadryl and a mid morning nap. After lunch, we decided we wanted to try out the trails – at the very least see what the beginner trails were like.


 
About half way into the ride, we stopped for a breather and Daniel told me that he was feeling weird. He felt light headed, a bit dizzy and generally wobbly on his bike. I told him that he must still be experiencing the Benadryl in his system. If you have ever ridden a bike, you know that feeling wobbly is a problem since balance is a key component to staying on the bike. In addition, riding down narrow single track in the woods is a very bad place to feel wobbly.


 
We decided to cut our ride short and go back to our car on the road that goes around the rim.


 
We ended up riding about 5 miles. The first part was mostly downhill on a sandy, rocky trail. What goes down must come up, so the end of our ride was uphill on a pretty steep grade on paved road. Enough to show me that I need to get back in shape.


 
We will be back to check out some of the more technical parts of the Raccoon Mountain trail system. Preferably when we are both feeling well and not suffering from Benadryl-induced drowsiness.


 
View of Nickajack Lake from the Visitor's Center at TVA.