Father's Day 2017

It appears that this is our year for biking. While we managed a little mountain biking for Mother's Day this year, for Father's Day we made our way to the Tennessee Riverpark, which is one of our favorite places to bike as a family.

Daniel had to work the ENTIRE weekend of Father's Day, so we didn't actually do this excursion until the following Wednesday, but we were all thankful he was able to take a day off to spend with us before we left on our trip to Arkansas.

While he did have to work, we were still able to have lunch with him and his dad on Father's Day. We went out to Harrison Bay and ate at a Mexican Restaurant at a marina on the lake that Daniel's dad likes. Then Daniel went back to work. For supper that night, we picked up BBQ from Shufords and took Daniel to a park for a picnic.

Later in the week Jack made Daniel a chocolate pudding pie (Daniel's favorite). Jack insisted on doing it all himself because he was a "real chef" and the pie was for "daddy's day."

Jack is getting to be more and more grown up, but I'm glad he is still little and talks about things like "daddy's day." Jack also wanted to know when it was going to be "kid's day." We told him that would be his birthday!

When Daniel finally had a day off, we all agreed to go biking. The weather was perfect and we wanted to do a longer, flat ride.

We have biked the majority of the Tennessee Riverpark (in sections) but had never started from the actual starting point at the base of Chickamauga Dam's Powerhouse.

The Chickamuaga Dam is one of Daniel's projects (they are replacing one of the locks), so Daniel was a trooper in going to one of his job sites on his day off! We drove up underneath the dam and showed the boys where Daniel works.

They were releasing a lot of water that day in anticipation of Tropical Storm Cindy. You could see how strong the current was and when we walked out on a fishing pier, it made me quite dizzy to see the water swirling below.

On this ride we saw tons of Blue Heron. We initially thought they were cranes, but informational signs along the trail let us know they were heron and what made them different was that a heron tucks its neck when it flies while a crane keeps its neck out.

We completed 8 miles (round-trip) on this ride, making two stops at the Riverpark playground for snacks and time for the kids to play.

This is definitely the flattest section of the greenway. One of these days we will have to start at the dam and go the entire length to St. Elmo.

Jack has started to add the collective mileage of the bike rides he has completed. I'm pretty sure he is pushing 100 miles if we took into account all of his neighborhood rides...

Daniel, we love you and appreciate all that you do for our family! Thank you for spending your one day off with us.

Jack's official mileage (not including neighborhood rides): 67 miles
Oro-Medonte Rail Trail in Orillia, Ontario, Canada (20 miles over course of week)
TN Riverpark–Coolidge Park to St. Elmo (7.5 miles)
Stringer's Ridge Choo Choo Trail and pump track (1.5+ miles)
Edward's Point (9 miles)
Virginia Creeper (21 miles)
TN Riverpark–Chickamauga Dam to Amnicola Marsh (8 miles)

Biking the Tennessee Riverpark's Newest Section

The Tennessee Riverpark (also known as the Riverwalk) is one of our favorite places to bike in Chattanooga. With wide-open paved paths and great views, it is a fun ride that is relatively kid friendly.

The original path starts at the Chickamauga Dam and makes its way to downtown Chattanooga where you can cross the Walnut Street pedestrian bridge to North Shore and make your way around Coolidge and Renaissance Parks.

This original trail was 9 miles and last year an additional 3.5 miles was completed from Ross's Landing in downtown Chattanooga out to historic St. Elmo at the base of Lookout Mountain. We have been anxious to find time to bike the newer portion of the Riverwalk and finally had an opportunity on Monday.

Before Isaac was born, we regularly biked the original section of the Riverwalk with Jack in tow. Since Jack has gotten bigger and would rather ride his own bike than ride in a trailer, we have shied away from going back.

We had been unsure of how far Jack would be able ride on his own, and how well he would handle other bikers and pedestrians since the Riverwalk can be busy.

Daniel was off of work for President's Day so we thought it would be a good day to visit the Riverwalk again. Thankfully the weather was absolutely gorgeous.

We started with lunch at Milk & Honey in North Shore before parking at Coolidge Park and making our way across the Walnut Street Bridge. There was a brief section on sidewalk next to traffic in North Shore, and Jack did great listening to our instructions and not getting to close to the street.

We made our way across the river and then navigated our way down sidewalks to the Aquarium (walking our bikes down the really steep hill) then crossing the street to Ross's Landing. From Ross's Landing we followed the sidewalk passed the marina before the trail picked up again. It followed the river with great views of Lookout Mountain.

We discovered a picnic area and bathrooms at Blue Goose Hollow. There is also a free parking lot here that we would park at in the future. After taking a break for a snack, we continued on through the industrial area of town toward St. Elmo. Isaac took the opportunity to nap in the bike trailer.

There was one long hill that Jack biked all of the way up and we took another break. He said he was getting tired so we agreed to turn back. We made it back to the picnic tables for another break, and then Jack's pedal fell off his bike. Daniel said he had never seen that happen before! Thankfully it was an easy fix.

Our final stop was at the playground at Ross's Landing before making our way back under the bridges, then up the switchback sidewalk to the Hunter Museum of art, then across the glass bridge back to the Walnut Street Bridge and finally back to Coolidge Park where our car was parked.

Jack was thrilled that he biked all 7.5 miles and said it must be a world record for a 5-year-old! At the very least, it is a record for him. He really wanted ice cream, so we stopped at Wendy's for frosty's on the way home. We are looking forward to going back and making it all the way to St. Elmo.

From St. Elmo, you can bike up the Guild-Hardy Trail, an old rail trail that goes to the top of Lookout, then you can take a National Park Service trail to Covenant College. From Covenant, the city of Chattanooga is working to build a connector trail that will go to Lula Lake which then connects to Cloudland Canyon.

I keep hinting to Daniel that we could probably do some bike camping via these connector trails. We shall see!

Our route: 7.5 miles completed on this ride.