Back in November, we took the boys to visit their Uncle Burton. He has recently moved back to Chattanooga after having grown up on Signal Mountain. Burton had been telling us about Stringer's Ridge. Since he lives in North Chattanooga, it was just a few minutes away. Technically the ridge was still closed, but you could hike a little trail up to a nice overlook of the city.
After the threat of the development of 500 condos on Chattanooga's North Shore on historic Stringer's Ridge in 2007, The Trust for Public Land and the City of Chattanooga got involved to purchase 37 acres and eventually all 92 acres to develop an Urban Park.
Here are some of the pics of the boys enjoying themselves on a beautiful late Fall day
Nice overlook of the Chattanooga
Baker's first taste of climbing
Little brother has to do it too!
Here is map showing the future of Stringer's Ridge. I know we cannot wait to explore it more.
Since it is winter and we are not currently doing much outside, I thought I would share some adventures from the past. Finally both boys were of the age and coordination that I felt comfortable taking them both hiking, and letting them roam. I decided to finally hike the trails at Barfield park here in Murfreesboro. Barfield park is a multi use park that has playgrounds, disc golf, camping, and hiking trails. The trails were better than I expected and easy enough for my 3 year old. We did the Marshall Knobbs red trail that begins behind the Wilderness Station.
The boys loved hiking out there. I think they could have spent the entire afternoon jumping off of rocks or from one rock to another. Baker even tested his balance on every fallen tree he saw. You will not feel like you are only five minutes from town out here. That was the best part...it was 10 minute drive from our house, but felt like we somewhere else.
I enjoy running races, and ever since I ran my first trail half marathon I have not enjoyed road running. Trail running offers a peacefulness and scenery that the road just cannot offer. The boys loved running or blazing through the trails. Hopefully there will be some trail races in their future. This video is actually from the very next week. The boys loved it so much they wanted to go back as quickly as we could.
This was our first trip out to Chickasaw Trace in Columbia, TN. We were already in town for the thanksgiving holiday at my wife's parents house. The weather was sunny and 55-60 degrees depending on the wind, so I decided to get out with the boys to enjoy the day. Chickasaw has 8.5 miles of single track and covers 300 acres. The park is located on the banks of the Duck River and a tributary, Knob Creek. It is a popular place for mountain bikers and is maintained by the Columbia Cycling Club. Chickasaw is also the location of the popular Jail Break Triathlon which consists of 3.5 miles in a canoe, 8 miles on a mountain bike, and 2.5 miles of trail running.
We ended up doing the River Trail. It was labeled easy, and I would completely agree. My boys are 5 and 3, and they had no trouble with the terrain. The trail follows the Duck River. It is not the prettiest river in the world, but some of these sections provided nice scenery. I have canoed several sections of the Duck...starting in Normandy and Shelbyville, through Chapel Hill, and in Columbia. So I have a history with this river, and walking it banks was a good reminder of the past adventures I have had on this river. Today was not about me though, it was about introducing a new place to Baker and Caleb. The River Trail was a good short hike. Caleb and Baker love bridges. I guess they think it is really cool to run across them and jump up and down on them because they will do it for awhile before getting bored. Anyways there was a cool bridge on this trail pictured below.
The boys overlooking the Duck River
At the end of the hike, we walked down to the river for Caleb's favorite past time...throwing rocks in the water. I think he could do till his arm falls off. He is so much like me because I cannot be near a river bed and not throw rocks either. We probably spent 45 minutes just throwing at different targets in the water. Then there is Baker, who just wanted to throw large rocks up and make a huge splash. When he was not doing that, he was mischievously trying to jump in the water.
All in all, it was a good trip. I look forward to going back and exploring more sections of the trail with my boys!
