One hundred and seventy- five hours spent filming. Countless more editing. Two years and just two cameras. Ultimately, Louis Lee's making of his documentary Outdoor Chattanooga came down to three important life events: whitewater rafting on the Ocoee River, surviving the blizzard of '93 and meeting Ruth Thompson.
But let's rewind and start at the beginning.
"I grew up a city kid," says Louis, a New Orleans native. "In Louisiana you didn't go camping much because the woods were so thick with undergrowth. Hiking was no fun because of the bushwhacking."
Louis Lee's making of his documentary Outdoor Chattanooga came down to three important life events: whitewater rafting on the Ocoee River, surviving the blizzard of '93 and meeting Ruth Thompson.The outlying swamps didn't provide much opportunity for outdoor recreation either. So Louis never knew he was a nature-lover until 1991, when he relocated to Chattanooga after landing a photojournalism job at Channel 12. "Suddenly, the outdoors were much more user-friendly," he says.
Shortly thereafter, a friend invited him on a whitewater rafting excursion down the Ocoee River. "It was my first experience doing anything like that. You could drive down Highway 64 all day and look down at the pretty water, but it is a completely different vantage point to be on the water and looking up at the mountains. It was awe-inspiring," he says. "And it set me off."
Then, the blizzard of 1993 struck. Deemed the "storm of the century," it dumped over a foot of snow onto the Tennessee Valley. "I was woefully unprepared," Louis remembers. Grocery stores and gas stations were closed for days. "I turned into a survivalist, scrounging around for food and warmth," he says.
"I started collecting things like blankets, backpacks, water containers, MREs (meals-ready-to-eat). I thought, 'I got all this stuff now. I need to make sure I know how to use it.'" And so he discovered his love for camping. He and his family started spending whatever time they could in the lush hardwood forests of Polk County or at Fall Creek Falls.
Ten years later, in 2003, Outdoor Chattanooga was first established as a municipal department within the city's Parks and Recreation Department. Its mission was simple: to make the outdoors accessible to everyone. Louis, however, wouldn't learn about the organization until later.
Fast-forward five years.
"I was working as the news director at WPLZ," says Louis, who was hosting a morning radio talk show at the time. One day he was contacted by Outdoor Chattanooga Events and Marketing Coordinator Ruth Thompson. "She wanted to come on the show and talk about some of the things going on with Outdoor Chattanooga. I didn't even know what it was," he says. That morning Ruth talked about some upcoming kayaking trips. Louis hadn't ever been in a kayak. Ruth invited him and his wife, Denise Galloway, along. In turn, Louis invited Ruth to come back on the show every week.
"I figured, if I'm a journalist and supposed to know what's going on in the city and I don't know about Outdoor Chattanooga, how many other people must not know about it?" he says. But it was more than just that. Ruth's enthusiasm for the natural world had charmed him. "Her personality is infectious," Louis says.
Ruth, who goes by Ruthie, grew up in the small town of Maryville in East Tennessee. "I was very fortunate," she says. "I grew up in an era where kids still got kicked out the door and sent out to play." Her grandparents were fishermen and hunters. Her father was a swimmer and cyclist. So her love for the outdoors was instilled early.
Technically, she describes her job duties as connecting folks with Chattanooga's outdoor lifestyle. This entails everything from answering phones to networking on the web to planning large-scale community events. But according to Louis her real role is "outdoor evangelist." This makes Ruthie laugh warmly. "That would be a better job description," she says. "Yes, I think that is much better."
Ruthie remembers that first time Louis and his wife joined Outdoor Chattanooga on one of its downtown kayaking trips. "Neither one of them had ever been in a kayak," Ruthie says. "I remember Denise being terrified on the boat. But they went out and had a great time. Next thing we knew, they had gone out and bought their own kayak. The only thing an outdoor enthusiast likes more than going out to play is turning somebody else onto it," she says.
Ruthie calls Louis and Denise an Outdoor Chattanooga success story. "That one-on-one interaction we have with beginners-putting them on the water, putting them on a bicycle, sending them on a climbing trip-that is an essential component in perpetuating the Outdoor Chattanooga lifestyle," says Ruthie.
As Outdoor Chattanooga blazes into its next decade, a lot of what the 10-year-old organization does remains the same - helping individuals find ways to enjoy nature, everything from finding trails to hike to places to put a kayak in the water. It offers resources on caving, SCUBA diving and hang-gliding. The government-funded organization even offers resources for people wanting to start up small businesses connected with the outdoors. The objective is always to make the outdoors, in all its capacities, more accessible for everyone.
Ruth "Ruthie" Thompson"I was impressed by the amount of special events they do for differently-abled people," Louis says. In his documentary's trailer there is footage which shows a young woman in harness and hardhat scaling a stone outcropping. "She's blind," Louis says. Outdoor Chattanooga Assists with programs like Climbing Higher, run by the city's Therapeutic Recreation Division, which helps facilitate climbing outings for those in wheelchairs. "They set up a wench system and this guy-with no use of his legs-pulled himself up the side of the mountain," says an awed Louis.
For him, Louis says the highlight of filming the documentary was getting to explore. "The more I shot, the more Ruth showed me," he says. She introduced him to rock climbing and bird watching. She took him to the famous bat cave on Nickajack Lake. But throughout his adventures, Louis never forgot the thrill of his first kayaking trip. "Flatwater kayaking is still my favorite," he says, listing South Chickamauga Creek and Soddy Lake as his favorite boating spots.
Ruthie's favorite natural pastime is hiking. "I love the Cumberland Trail," she says. "I seek my spirituality, my solace and my rejuvenation in the woods. The outdoors are a huge passion of mine, but even deeper than that is what that kind of lifestyle can do for saving our planet."
It is likely that sort of impassioned sentiment that makes Louis call Ruthie the "spark" of Outdoor Chattanooga. Ruthie calls her connection with Louis, and his resulting film, "serendipity."
But perhaps synergy is a better word. "I want the whole world to see how a city can transform itself for the better," Louis says. "I am proud of Outdoor Chattanooga. I am excited to blow the trumpet for Chattanooga. I am more in love with this city every year that passes."