November 20, 2010: Jack's River Falls (GA)
	November 18, 2010: Driving to Chattanooga (TN)
	Return to the Index for Our Hiking/Thanksgiving Trip

The first stop we've planned to make today is at an attraction called Ruby Falls- apparently the world's tallest underground waterfall. Fred has been there before, I believe, but I haven't, so it ought to be interesting. After that, we have some hikes planned at a state park south of where we are now.

A Visit to Ruby Falls

Our night at the Super 8 was comfortable, and we were up and ready to head over to Ruby Falls fairly early.

Getting to the caverns from the hotel was pretty easy; we just had to follow US 64 until we started seeing signs that led us up around the end of Lookout Mountain to the site of the falls.

When we arrived early on this weekday morning, the cave wasn't particularly busy, and we were able to park very close, get our tickets and only have to wait a few minutes for the next tour to start. We spent a bit of time in the gift shop and museum, looking at some of the historical displays before our tour was called; it began with a recounting of the history of the cave.

History of Ruby Falls

The story of Ruby Falls begins with the original Lookout Mountain Cave whose natural entrance is located at the foot of Lookout Mountain on the banks of the Tennessee River. Tales of this cave's huge chambers and winding passages have long been passed down from one generation to the next, and the cave's whereabouts have been known by Chattanooga inhabitants for centuries. The rich history of this cave includes Native Americans, cave explorers, notorious outlaws, civil war soldiers, and even a president of the United States. There were many reports of explorers traveling deep into this cave, as far as 12 miles without reaching the end.

In 1905, due to geographical limitations, the Southern Railroad Company was forced to construct a tunnel along the face of Lookout Mountain and through some portions of the mountain for one of its lines. This tunnel intersected and sealed off the natural entrance to the Lookout Mountain Cave. In doing this, the Lookout Mountain Cave was completely shut off to the public. Leo Lambert, a local cave enthusiast knew of Lookout Mountain Cave and its rich history and had even explored the cave prior to it being sealed off. He longed to reopen it to the public and devised a plan from which to do so. In 1923, Mr. Lambert along with a group of investors decided to enact his plan.

His idea was to drill an elevator shaft from another point on the mountain to access the cave from the surface above. Work on this feat of engineering began in the fall of 1928. On December 28, 1928, while excavating the elevator shaft a worker operating a jackhammer discovered a void in the rock and felt a gush of air. This void was located at the 260 foot level, still 160 feet above the Lookout Mountain Cave. Upon further inspection, an opening, 18 inches high and five feet wide, was discovered. Lambert, along with a small crew, entered this opening to explore the new found cave. While exploring they discovered a number of unusual and beautiful rock formations, flowing passages and several stream beds. Pushing their way deeper and deeper into the cave, they finally reached its marvelous jewel, the waterfall. Mr. Lambert and his exploration party were awestruck by it magnificence and beauty, and quickly returned to the surface to share their new found discovery with the rest of the crew. The round trip journey took them about 17 hours.

Outside the Ruby Falls Visitor Center

On his next exploration into the cave, Lambert took several people including his wife Ruby to see the many wonders they had discovered. While gazing at the waterfall, Lambert told his wife that he would name it in her honor, "Ruby Falls." Mr. Lambert decided to develop both the Lookout Mountain Cave and the new found Ruby Falls Cave to the public and offered tours to both caves. The entrance building for both tours was built from the limestone excavated from the elevator shaft and the cave trails. This entrance was touted as the "World's Most Magnificent Cave Entrance." It was named "Cavern Castle," and was modeled after a fifteenth century Irish castle. From 1930 to 1935 tours were offered to both caves, but Ruby Falls proved to be the most popular with its many unusual formations and of course the waterfall itself. In 1935, the Lookout Mountain Cave was closed to the public, but the Ruby Falls Cave has been open to the public continuously and has hosted millions of visitors during its long storied history. After nearly a century of tours through Lookout Mountain, Ruby Falls is as strong as ever.

The Geology of Ruby Falls and Lookout Mountain

Lookout Mountain is widely known for its many unusual geological features. The most unique of which being Ruby Falls, a 145-foot underground waterfall located more than 1,120 feet beneath the mountain’s surface. The fascinating story of the formation of Lookout Mountain, the Ruby Falls cave and Ruby Falls itself is told by the rocks that formed each of these wonders.

The Limestone Walls of Ruby Caverns

Most of Lookout Mountain is made of limestone rock. About 240 million years ago, a shallow sea covered the eastern Tennessee area, and it was in this sea that the limestone of Lookout Mountain was formed. Limestone is a sedimentary rock formed by successive layers of shale, sand, and pebbly sand. The layers of sediment hardened over time to form limestone rock. Millions of years ago, the North American and African plates collided in a collision that lasted for several thousand years. The collision was felt even as far inland as the Chattanooga area. These tectonic forces produced a series of earthquakes that pushed and bent the hardened rock to form mountains. The bending and folding of the brittle limestone and sandstone layers caused a series of cracks and crevices to form. The rock layers slid past each other along what geologists call faults. These faults were the very beginning of Ruby Falls cave.

When our tour was called, we took an elevator down into the cave to what turned out to be a cavern room where there were some other folks waiting as well. (The elevator can't hold a whole tour of people.) Then our guide joined us and we started out. The first part of the trip to Ruby Falls traversed a number of rooms and passed a number of formations.

Formation of Ruby Falls Cave

We got quite an extensive lecture as we were walking along the early part of the cave tour, including an explanation of how the caves came to be formed. You probably already know most of this, but like most limestone caves, the Ruby Falls Cave is sometimes called a Solution Cave, and formed in the same manner as other limestone caves.

In the First Part of Ruby Caverns

Carbon dioxide in the air is absorbed by rain water falling through it. The rainwater also absorbs carbon dioxide that is in the soil after it hits the ground, and breaks it down into a very weak acid called carbonic acid. The weak acid comes into contact with limestone rock when subterranean streams find their way through the cracks in the limestone rock that have been produced by tectonic forces. The acid solutes (or eats away) the limestone (which is made of calcium carbonate or calcite) causing the cracks to become larger and caves and passages to form. This process is called chemical weathering.

At one time, the water table was much higher and the Ruby Falls Cave was at the top of it. Rushing water flowed through it for many years washing out the cave and enlarging the faults and cracks. The water table has since lowered and that explains the lack of water in the cave.

Formations in the Cave

Over the years, the water level in the cave lowered and air entered the Ruby Falls Cave. When that happened, the conditions were right for the formation of speleothems, or cave formations. The formations process takes a very long time even though it is a very simple process – water moving through the soil absorbs the minerals in the limestone. As the water evaporates or drips, it leaves minerals behind.

Stalactites form as water drips from the ceiling leaving minerals behind. The minerals build up very slowly to make the stalactite. All stalactites start out as capillary tubes (also called soda straws). A capillary tube is a hollow stalactite. They are very thin and fragile. When the hold on the end of a capillary tube is closed off, it becomes a stalactite and begins to widen. Capillary tubes are very common in the Ruby Falls Cave, especially in the Hall of Dreams.

Stalagmites are formed by minerals deposited on the floor when the dripping water hits and leaves behind minerals. Stalagmites almost always form underneath stalactites. Columns are formed when a stalactite and a stalagmite grow into each other.

Click on the Image Above to View the Slideshow

Drapery formations (also called curtains) are formed as water works its way through the small cracks and crevices in the ceiling and evaporates before it has a chance to fall. Flowstone is formed from flowing water instead of dripping water. The calcite is deposited in thin layers. These thin layers will first take the shape of the cave floor or bedrock beneath it. The flowstone builds up to become more rounded as it gets thicker. Helictites are a type of stalactite. Helictites grow in any direction on the cave ceiling. Their twisted shape is attributed to air currents and the arrangement of the crystals of calcite.

We took quite a few pictures of the formations that we passed on our way to the end of the underground trail at the falls themselves. I wanted you to see lots of these, and so to make that easy, I have put them in a slideshow.

To view the slideshow, just click on the image at left and I will open the slideshow in a new window. In the slideshow, you can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each image to move from one to the next, and the index numbers in the upper left of each image will tell you where you are in the series. When you are finished looking at the pictures, just close the popup window.

I took a few good movies as we were walking through the cave towards the falls:

Walking Through Ruby Falls Cave This movie will give you a pretty good idea of what most of the walk through the cave was like- mostly narrow passages that occasionally opened out into larger rooms.

Soda Straws, The Leaning Tower and The Turtle I made this movie as we entered the larger room where the formation called The Leaning Tower was located, and I also included the formation called The Turtle in the movie.

We continued walking through the cave corridors, passing some interesting formations as we went. Just before we reached the falls themselves, I took a photo of Fred in the corridor. Shortly, we could hear the falls up ahead and soon could see the changing colors of the lights that play on it. Then we were there.

The Formation of Ruby Falls

After the formation of the Ruby Falls Cave, a surface stream entered it and left deposits of sand and gravel along the walls. During this time a sinkhole developed near the head of the stream and allowed great amounts of water to enter. The presence of sand and clay along the sides of the cave confirm the presence of a sink hole at one time. The water hollowed out the dome area that Ruby Falls is located; this area is sometimes referred to as “Solomon’s Temple.” By way of erosion the waterfall carved out this area. The progress of this natural process can be observed by studying the smooth sides of the limestone walls.

The falls were the end-point on our trek, and seemed to be in a cul-de-sac within the cave. When we got there, some of the earlier tour were still milling about, watching and listening to the waterfall. Over the pleasant sound of falling water the PA system was playing irritating Christmas music- spoiling the effect of the falls themselves. I didn't even like the colored lights that changed every ten or fifteen seconds.

But even considering all that, the falls were very pretty, and at least a few of Fred's pictures turned out. I have put thumbnails for four of them below; just click on the thumbnails to see the pictures:

Ruby Falls If you can get past the irritating Christmas music playing in the background, you should enjoy this movie of Ruby Falls.

We enjoyed our walk into the Ruby Falls Cave and to the falls; after about fifteen minutes at the falls, our tour guide herded us together for the return trip. (The trips are timed so that groups don't have to pass each other in the narrow corridors.) On our way in, there was a place where the walkway had divided- probably to allow tour groups to pass. On the way back, we took the other path.

On the Return Trip When we took the other path on the way back, we were advised that there would be a music and light show on the formations, so I was ready to film most of it as we walked along. Very pretty.

On the Observation Platform

When we went back up th elevator to the gift shop, we took the stairs up to the top of the building where there is an observation platform. It looks out to the north, west and east, and you can see the panorama of the city of Chattanooga in the background. We engaged the services of another tourist to get a picture of Fred and I on the observation platform.

The View from the Observation Deck This movie pans across the view from the top of the building and shows the valley where Chattanooga is located.

Our time on the observation deck concluded our visit to Ruby Falls. Next on the agenda was to head in towards Chattanooga for lunch at a local barbecue restaurant and then on to our next stop down in Georgia.

Hiking in Cloudland Canyon State Park

We had lunch at a local barbecue place that had been recommended by someone at Ruby Falls, and it turned out to be quite good. Then we were off for our afternoon of hiking.

Getting to Cloudland Canyon State Park

Fred had, as usual, done some investigation before our trip of what we might do, so we already knew the route to take to get from the southwest area of Chattanooga down to Cloudland Canyon SP in Georgia. I-24 to I-59 and an exit at the town of Trenton, GA, was about all it took.

We entered the park from the south after a short few miles up a winding road from Trenton, paid our entrance fee, and got directions to the trailhead for the hikes around the canyon. We were parked there in just a few minutes.

After we parked at the picnic area, we gathered our camera stuff together and headed off to do a couple of hikes around Cloudland Canyon. Both of the hikes started just a ways southwest along the rim of the canyon. The first one branched off from the Rim Loop Trail and headed down into the canyon to some waterfalls.

The other hike follows the Rim Loop Trail all the way around the southwestern end of the canyon and then back up along the northwestern side of the crevasse to an overlook from where you could look all the way back across the canyon to your starting point.

On the Waterfalls Trail

When we left the car, we headed directly towards the canyon to pick up the trail that ran along it. When we got to the edge where the trail was, the vista opened up, and we stopped to take a couple of pictures of us with Cloudland Canyon in the background. Here is one of me and here is one of Fred. We went off to the southwest on the rim trail, and eventually came to a turn-off that led us down into the canyon.

On the Rim Trail at Cloudland Canyon We are walking along the rim trail to the southwest, and are coming up on the fork that will take us onto the Waterfalls Trail down into the canyon.

The trail to the right led us down a slope to a huge overhanging rock, and the trail led right underneath it. As it turned out, the rock was at the top of a stairway leading down; I went ahead of Fred to get that picture of him at the top of the stairs. Like some other hikes we've been on, this one would have a lot of stairs (representing a lot of work). Going down them was quick; coming back up them less so. Once again, I got a bit ahead of Fred so I could get a picture of him coming down the stairs.

We descended quite a few stairs and then crossed the creek on a footbridge. This brought us to the top of a set of falls, but to actually see them we had to go down the trail on the other side of the creek. This brought us to the side of a medium-sized pool from which we could get a great view of the waterfall. I had noted from one of handouts we had gotten at the Visitor Entrance Station that there was a vote going on as to what these falls and the ones further on down would be named. As of this writing, the votes are in, and this first set of waterfalls is now known as Cherokee Falls. We took a few pictures here at Cherokee Falls, and one other that I thought I would include was Fred's zoom picture of the very top of the falls.

Here is the movie Fred made of Cherokee Falls; it shows off his zoom to good advantage:

Cherokee Falls Here is the movie I made of Cherokee Falls and the area around it.

After sitting and admiring this waterfall for a time, we decided to continue on down to the trail to the next set of falls. Once again, most of the trail consisted of wooden stairs- lots of them.

The Trail to Hemlock Falls Cloudland Canyon is, at this point, very narrow and with steep sides. There would be little way for the average hiker to get down to the falls without these constructed stairs.

We continued down the trail past one pretty waterfall until we came out above Hemlock Falls. Once again, we followed the trail down around the falls and then down the slope to the area around the pool beneath the lower of the two sets of falls. Here, I took a picture looking back up the canyon at both sets of falls and at one of the two bridges we had to cross on the way down. You can have a look at that picture here. And when we were standing beside the pool, we set up the tripod so I could get this picture of Fred and I at Hemlock Falls.

At Hemlock Falls This movie, made at the foot of Hemlock Falls, shows you both sets of falls, the pool and the area all around.

Once again, since we'd made the trek down, we spent some time relaxing by the falls, but then we had to hike back up all those steps to reconnect with the Rim Trail so we could continue with the second hike here at Cloudland Canyon.

On the Rim Trail

When we started off on the Rim Trail, we were in the woods, and that is the way it stayed pretty much all the way around to the other side of the canyon. The trail dipped down at the southern end of the canyon and there was a bridge across a small stream, but then the trail continued on an upward slope all along the far side of the canyon until it actually came out on the rocky canyon rim. When we got around to the other side, we found a series of constructed overlooks, including one that looked down into the canyon towards the waterfalls- which we could neither see nor hear from this height. You can see a picture of this overlook here.

From the first overlook that we got to it was hard to tell just what was below us, but when we got around to the second, I could look back at the first overlook, and you can see the fencework sitting atop the column of rock. And from the last of the overlooks we could see the canyon rim continuing on around to the northeast. The views from the farthest overlook were pretty spectacular, and we spent almost an hour there just sitting in the sun and looking around. We took some really nice pictures from there, and if you will click on the thumbnails below you can have a look at them:

At the Rim Trail Overlook From the last Rim Trail overlook, where we had the best views, I made a movie panning around the entire canyon to try to point out some of the major features.

There was still a lot of sunlight, but we knew the day would be fading fast, so we reluctantly left the overlook and retraced our route along the Rim Trail back to the parking area and our vehicle to head out of the park and find a place to stay for the night.

Tomorrow, we were going to do a hike to a place called Jacks River Falls, which was about fifty miles east of here, right along the Tennessee-Georgia state line. So we thought we would stay somewhere south of Chattanooga along I-75.

We left the park and drove back west a short ways to I-59, and then headed back towards Ruby Falls and Chattanooga. We got on I-24 east for a ways just past the city and then headed south on I-75. We saw a sign for a Super 8 motel in the town of Ringgold, Georgia. According to our directions, that would be the closest place to stay.

The hotel was a nice one with a lady running the front desk who was eager to give us some good local restaurant recommendations. We picked a local diner-type place, had a pretty good dinner, and then worked on today's pictures.

You can use the links below to continue to the album page for different day.

	November 20, 2010: Jack's River Falls (GA)
	November 18, 2010: Driving to Chattanooga (TN)
	Return to the Index for Our Hiking/Thanksgiving Trip