North Chickamauga Creek Gorge State Park Montlake Road Trailhead

Loved this hike today. It was a New Year's Day hike led by Ranger Isabelle and we had a great time with the family and other hikers. Learned a lot about the area, rock formations, and flora. Definitely worth getting out on Jan 1 to start the year off great. Will be back again for sure.

I wish they opened earlier than 8AM. 100+ heat indexes in summer are too hot to not allow people to get out a little earlier, IMO. Still 5 stars because this is an incredible public nature park and they are continually working on improving it. Heed the new signs they put up about being prepared if you hike down into the remote areas of the cumberland trail (~1 mile past boston branch overlook). I've never crossed anyone hiking in that area, except camped out. You are on your own. Panther branch overlook is well worth a visit but a very hard hike from montlake TH (13 miles, 2700+ ft up and down). Overall, I love how varied this portion of the trail is, and the density in points of interest is high. Yes the blue hole is popular. I'm mostly just a hiker but I'm still happy to see other people using the park, assuming they don't trash the place. There's not much more they can do to expand parking. Room is obviously limited around the parking area and it's a nature preserve, after all. I come early and/or avoid the weekends, and I've never had any problem. These places exist as a free public service so most complaining about it's management strikes me as entitlement.

Great place, but I wish there was complete and full access even past the main and popular blue hole. The park service considers everything ending at the Blue Hole but there is more. Maybe there was full access in the 1970's or something back when the stone picnic tables where first put in way before I came around. Been going since 2009. Thing is people already know about "The Party Palace", "The shelves" or whatever you want to call it and its not some big secret. You just have to just keep walking past the Blue Hole about 25 mins or 45 min in total from the parking lot at an adult pace to connect and be ready for a narrow trail with sometimes fallen trees to hop over. The thing is people are going back into anyway so why not make it passable and make it a good solid trail and also clear off all the vegetation that has grown up on the rock shelves. This is not the old rope swing Hole, that is past what I am talking about. I understand the park service does not want to have to go back that far to save dumb people, but again you will have to do it anyway as people already find their way back there and that's locals or tourists too to snorkle or just when the main Hole is just too packed. The underwater canyon has to be at least 30 feet deep if not more with amazing clear water and visibility and there is fun smaller rock to jump from too(kinda looks the head of a Turtle haha) I dont know how to make a trail or I would volunteer in two seconds. State of Tennessee or Soody Daisy something has to be done maybe above the park managers head or hire more rangers or something I dont know. He's a nice guy and all, but dude "That's The Job"

My kids are 12, 9 & 7. I expressed my need for some outdoor, quality family bonding to my husband and kids. We had a few requests to make everyone happy; skipping rocks, clear water and a spot for fishing. The hike checked off all the boxes! The kids actually did a little better than on normal short easy hikes bc the roots and rocks on the trail were fun to them and crossing over the “river” “creek” proved as a challenge, which we looked forward to on the way back to the car. We found a big rock at “blue hole”, the kids jumped off, fished, used their imaginations, chilled out, it was exactly what we needed! -If you have littles, there are spots to rest on the side. We stopped once, where the kids skipped rocks for probably 30 minutes! Got to meet a family with a dog who was super friendly! Spotted a baby snake catching some sun!

Had an awesome experience at the blue hole, dispute the rain. It actually cleared the crowd a bit, so we thought it helped haha. Beautiful river and plenty of places to stop and swim

Such a beautiful area to hike! A canopy of trees lead you up the side of the mountain. Beautiful creeks, a waterfall, and a breathtaking view of the canyon that makes the steep rocky treck worth it!

My family and I love coming here on the weekends! I love the trails, and I'd rate them moderate. Plenty of places to swin. Parking is on site, but it's a nightmare. There is limited parking for the number of visitors. When the lot is full, a Ranger will close the gate. Upon entering the park, a ranger will check your bag. No drugs or alcohol allowed. There are picnic tables and open spaces for picnicking. We do use all trails map, most times. 10/10 recommend North Chick Creek

Parking was a bit chaotic but once we got parked the river was beautiful. We didn’t walk all the way down to the blue hole, someone said it was about a mile to it and we didn’t have time. But there are lots of small pools to cool off it right near the parking.