North Chickamauga Creek Gorge is best known in the summertime by locals as the North Chick Blue Hole or even Soddy Blue Hole.
The North Chickamauga Creek Gorge is located on the south end of Soddy Daisy, TN. This state natural area is full of hiking trails, but in the heat of a Chattanooga summer, you’ll find everyone rushing to their favorite swimming hole. Continue reading to learn more about this local favorite, how to get there, and tips for your visit.
I shouldn’t have to preface with this, but there’s a grievance in the outdoor community so I feel I must. PLEASE BE RESPONSIBLE. WHEN YOU USE THESE OUTDOOR SPACES, TAKE OUT WHAT YOU BRING IN. DO NOT LITTER OR ALTER NATURE IN ANY WAY. LET’S KEEP THESE BEAUTIFUL PLACES AMAZING SO THAT WE CAN ALL ENJOY THEM FOR YEARS TO COME. We thank you in advance!
North Chickamauga Creek Gorge
The North Chickamauga Creek Gorge is a trailhead that is a part of the Cumberland Trail system. Typically the park is open from sunrise to sunset. But as you can see pictured below, the current park hours are now Mon-Fri 8AM-7PM and Sat-Sun 9AM-7PM. I cannot stress this enough: GET THERE EARLY. My friends and I went on a Saturday morning a few years ago. We tried to get there around 8:30 but had to wait for the park ranger to open the gate at 9:00. We didn’t know about the new park hours and while we were waiting, about 8 other vehicles showed up to wait too. When we got in, the park ranger actually directed traffic into the unmarked, gravel lot. It was like we were going to a theme park all of a sudden. I’ve been to this park numerous times but I’ve never seen a park ranger hanging out there, or directing traffic. And yes, when we left later in the afternoon, he was still stationed there in the parking lot. I’ll also note at this time, that there was a line of cars parked out on the main road when we left too. Something else I’ve never seen before.
Our Hike on the Cumberland Trail
When we started out, everyone else headed straight to the swimming holes. Of course, it was still morning and the sun hadn’t yet crested the mountains to shine down into the valley where we were. So, we decided to pass the Blue Hole split (there’s a sign for it) and continue on the trail toward Strip Mine Falls. This is a 1.3 mile hike from the parking lot which goes up the side of the mountain a little ways. The trail is narrow, but well worn so you can feel safe on this particular hike. As you can see in the picture below, these falls are a small cascade, even tinier in the summer months. After we hung out at the falls for a little while, we headed back down to take the trail over to the Blue Hole.
The Hike to North Chick Blue Hole
The split for the North Chick Blue Hole literally crosses the North Chickamauga Creek. In the summer, the water is typically quite low through here so trekking over the big river rocks isn’t as challenging. But if you’re like me, anything involving walking over rocks is challenging enough as it is. I personally really struggle with this, but I can say, even though I’m slow, I made it just fine.
On the other side of the creek, the sandy and wide trail follows the creek upstream. After .7 of a mile you’ll arrive to the official North Chick Blue Hole. It’ll be obvious by how big it is and how easily you can walk right up to the water. There’s a huge boulder separating the trail and the water which people climb onto to jump off into the blue water. On the opposite side is a tall bluff which, if you’re careful, can be climbed up to jump off of as well. This place gets crowded fast though. When we arrived after our short side hike, it was already pretty packed with a few families. Sorry, I didn’t capture a photo of this one because there were so many people there already. At this moment I’d like to point out there’s another blue hole before this one where we saw a few people also. The first one, however, is not as easily accessible from the trail as the main North Chick Blue Hole is.
The Other North Chick Blue Holes
So we hiked on. Past the main blue hole, the trail ends on “The Shelf” as I’ve so lovingly named it. Maybe that’s not an original name for the spot but I’m sticking with it. The Shelf has a decent swimming hole as well (pictured below). But this was not the particular blue hole we had in mind so we kept going.
And this is where I remind you, the trail ended at The Shelf. That means, we had to trailblaze the rest of the way. It was about half a mile of climbing over fallen trees, carefully navigating around mudslides and loose, fallen rocks, and basically trekking across the remains of an old, overgrown trail. Yes, there used to be a trail out to here. I hiked to this exact blue hole nearly 10 years ago, but now hardly anyone comes this far. We finally arrived and there was only one couple there who left soon after we arrived so we had the whole place to ourselves. We ate a quick lunch and swam across to the other side where there’s a giant boulder you can carefully climb up to jump off into the blue water (see photo below). By the time we were getting ready to leave, a small group of ladies made their way to the same spot. But that’s it, that’s all we saw up there the entire time and by now it was late afternoon.
The downside is the hike out there…and back. Based on the troubles we encountered trail blazing out there, we opted to go back via the other side. We noticed that everyone else we saw out there had come and gone in that direction, not the side we were on. So, we went back, basically rock hopping down the creek on the opposite side, until we finally reached The Shelf again. Then we crossed the creek back to The Shelf where we were able to pick up the actual trail again.
Conclusion
I highly recommend visiting the North Chick Blue Hole this summer to cool off. There’s multiple swimming holes and depending on the time of the year and how much rain has fallen, the swimming holes can be deeper and there are shallower ones too. However, as nice and secluded as the one we ultimately went to was, I don’t recommend hiking all the way to it if you’re not used to hiking off-trail. Small and large, wobbly river rocks are quite the obstacle if you’re not used to them or careful. And I can’t tell you how many fallen trees we had to climb over, and under. Not to mention the small trees we had to crawl through on the way back. All in all, it’s a fun adventure and the secluded blue hole is worth it. But it’s not necessarily going to be secluded, and you do have to go through a lot of trouble to get to it.
The first three blue holes (and possibly more depending on how the weather has been) are just as great, if not better for the sake of the easiness in getting to them and better boulders for jumping. Honestly, I wanted to just stop at The Shelf on our way there. There was no one there at the time and the blue waters looked so inviting, but my friends wanted to continue onward. On our way back there were just a few families there, all well spread out. There’s plenty of room for everyone to have their space and enjoy their time at these blue holes. And that’s why North Chick Blue Hole is Chattanooga’s favorite blue hole.
Comment below if you’ve adventured out to any of these swimming holes. I’d love to know your thoughts! Here’s the video of our adventure from this particular day for your viewing enjoyment. Until next time, enjoy exploring Chatt!
