Weekly Hike: Sterchi Farms

I organize a weekly hiking meet-up for homeschool families. My boys and I have been hiking weekly for most of the last four years as part of our homeschool. 

Last school year, I started having people ask to join us and that grew into a group of 3-10ish families that bundle up and meet up on the trail each week. 

We halted in March of 2020, but picked back up again in August. These weekly meet ups have turned out to be so good and a much needed mid-week break for all of us. 

We all get fresh air and sunshine. We all get to move our bodies. The kids have friends to adventure with. And the moms get a chance to visit and share life together. It's a community I never imagined. And during this pandemic, it has made life normal and bearable. Having something to look forward to during uncertain times is such a blessing. One I didn't know I needed, until I needed it.

This was our first group hike of 2021. 2nd Hike of 2021. We met up on the South Chickamauga Greenway and completed four+ miles. My main goal for this hike was to take a mid-way break at the Clamber Scramble Traverse at Sterchi Farms.

 

On this particular day, we had several new families join us on this hike and even had a stranger stop us at our trailhead and bravely ask if she and her family could join us in the future!  

 

On this day, we hiked 4.5 miles (9.5 miles YTD) This was our 2/52 hike for this year.

Biking South Chickamauga Greenway

For Mother's Day, all I really wanted to do was to get out and enjoy nature with my family. 

My top pick was to go hike part of the Cumberland Trail to Snooper's Rock but when we woke up, the mountain was covered in a thick blanket of fog.

As we waited for the fog to lift, Jack fell asleep. He had woken up early that morning (Daniel got up with him so that I could sleep in). While Jack napped, I researched alternate outings for us to do.

After some discussion, we decided that biking was probably a better choice since Jack's hiking skills are still limited. Plus it had rained that morning and we thought the trail might be too slippery. 

My second pick was to go mountain biking at Washington T. Booker State Park. The trail is for beginners (so we could do it with Jack) and it has views of the lake. However, Daniel was still leery about wet trails so we marked that off the list as well.

After a little more research, I discovered the South Chickamauga Greenway – a multi-use trail and boardwalk in South Chattanooga. 

This turned out to be perfect because the trailhead was really close to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum and the day before I had lost my license there. Thankfully someone had been turned it into the main office and I was able to pick it up before our bike ride.

My pick for Mother's Day lunch was Cracker Barrel so that I could have pancakes. After our late lunch, and a stop at the train depot, we began our ride. 

The trail follows Chickamauga Creek and crosses under several bridges that the trains go over. We stopped under a couple of bridges to watch the trains pass by. I think that might have been Jack's favorite part.

The trail is mostly shaded and it was fun to ride on the boardwalk next to the creek. We biked about 7 miles before Jack got tired of wearing his helmet.

Doing something active, outside in nature, with my little family was the perfect way to spend Mother's Day.

We are looking forward to our next bike ride and even have tentative plans to ride the Virginia Creeper trail in the near future.

Our route covered 7 miles of the Greenway.