Park rangers acted as traffic directors at the entrance to the North Chickamauga Creek Gorge State Natural Area early Monday afternoon, facing an onslaught of Labor Day adventure-seekers.
“The lot is full,” one worker told those in passing cars while waving them onward on Montlake Road. “I can’t let you in until someone else leaves.”
The area, known as the Pocket Wilderness, is a story of restoration. Long a destination for illegally dumped trash, it is now a popular hiking and swimming destination within 20 miles of downtown Chattanooga, a community embracing every outdoor opportunity.
With the uptick in popularity, though, comes scenes like the one that transpired after a June 7 rope-swing accident about two miles from the Montlake Road trailhead. More than 60 volunteer firefighters and rescue personnel from nine agencies spent more than four hours transporting an injured 26-year-old woman out of the woods.
On average, 30-50 of the approximately 225 calls to the Mowbray Volunteer Fire Department each year come from the Pocket Wilderness, Mowbray fire chief Chris Weddington said. Officials with the Cumberland Trail State Park that oversee the Pocket Wilderness are eyeing a change that could make rescues less strenuous for volunteer agencies like Weddington’s.