Hearing a lot about Knoxville and wanting to explore East Tennessee I planned a short 3 day trip to explore Knoxville, TN.
I ✈️ to Atlanta since it was a direct 1.5h flight from STL and “short” 3h drive from Atlanta to Knoxville. I planned to drive around as many of the area’s many lakes and parks as possible and visit the Smoky Mountains/Gatlinburg area again, but a winter storm changed my plans. I was lucky enough to not get stuck in Atlanta’s traffic for too long and made it to Knoxville just in time for dusk.
I drove by a couple of lakes on the way but the pic were no good due to rainy gray weather. I stopped at the Booker T. Washington State Park, TN when it stopped raining for a sec to stretch my legs.
The next day I woke up to a snow mixed with rain with close to freezing falling temperatures, so I stayed in the Knoxville, TN area exploring its cute downtown (in pics below) and driving around the surrounding hilly green area until early afternoon when the road conditions made me go back to the hotel.
The next morning after taking a yoga class in my fav studio Y6 checked out super early and drove down south through Chattanooga (didn’t have time to explore downtown there) to the highlight of my visit – the Ruby Falls, TN and the Rock City, GA.
The Ruby Falls, TN cavern trail starts 76 meters (260 feet) underground in the Lookout Mountain – you get there via elevator! Then it’s about a mile round trip (takes about 1.5hs) guided walk through narrow corridors to the epic opening with the tallest waterfall in the U.S. – you can take pics throughout the walk. It got a lil claustrophobic at first when I realized I’m deep underground with only one way out, but I got over it with some self-talk 😄.
Next stop was the Rock City, TN (10m drive up the Lookout Mountain), which due to freezing snow was almost empty and partially accessible. I had a nice short (freezing) walk through the ancient rock formations and gardens (mostly frozen at that time) with nice panoramic views of the 7 states you can see from that point.
Last stop was a drive to the Atlanta airport with a quick stop at the Stone Mountain, GA – by the time I got there I had no time to hike, so no pics from here. From my previous visit I can recommend making time for this great hike.
Map of this road trip:
Dogos are not allowed in the cavern due to health guidelines (they have kennels available); you can bring ur leashed furry animals to the Rock City & Stone Mountain.
“Czech The Box Summary” – Krátce a Stručně Česky (na anglické klávesnici)
Zaletela sem si "kousek" na 3 denni vylet do Knoxville, Tennessee. Pujcila sem si auto z Atlanty, a dojela sem do Knoxvillu za 3 hodky. Cestou sem se stavila v Booker T. Washington parku protahnout nozky. Me plany politat mistni jezera a hory dalsi den me prekazila snehova boure s ledem, tak sem omrkla centrum mesta Knoxville a zustala zbytek dne na hotelu. Dalsi rano sem zacla sportovne jogou a vyrazila zpet smerem k Atlante se skoro celodenni zastavkou na Lookout Mountain (hore) v Georgii, kde sem skakla do Ruby Falls (jeskyne) a Rock City (mesto kamenu). Ruby Falls je pekna asi hodinova prochazka jeskyni s cilem obroskeho otevreneho prostoru s velkym vodopadem. Dostanete se tam akorat jednim vytahem). Rock city je formace starych obr kamenu s hezkou vzhlidkou. Ale byla me venku zima, takze sem to rychle prosla a valila na letisle. Jeste sem se po ceste stavila na Stone Mountain (hore), kde uz sem jednou byla s mamkou, ale nez sem se tam pres Atlantske zacpy dostala k te hore uz sem musela razit na letiste a domu.