By: Robin Ford Wallace, Staff Reporter

Opening the Long Branch Trail on Lookout Mountain is only the beginning, said project manager Mike Pollack at opening ceremonies Friday. 

“There’s a beautiful thing that’s happening in that this trail is going to magnetically draw other trails to it, connecting Chattanooga all the way into north Georgia, possibly down to Rome, Ga., before it’s all done with,” he told the surprisingly large crowd gathered for the event.

For practical purposes, the 5.6-mile multiuse trail has been open to foot and bicycle traffic since August, but the official opening drew dignitaries from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, elected officials at state and county levels, and higher-ups from the Lula Lake Land Trust, which co-manages the trail in partnership with the DNR rangers of Cloudland Canyon State Park.

The next step of the public/private partnership is to complete a shorter trail linking Long Branch with the park proper. After that, according to Elliott Davenport, whose father, Robert Davenport, started the land trust with 800 acres gifted at his death in 1994, the goal is to extend the trail system until a hiker can walk from downtown Chattanooga through Reflection Riding, federal land and Lula Lake holdings into Cloudland Canyon State Park “And we’re not that far from that right now,” he said in his speech at the ceremonies.

In the last 14 years, he said, the land trust has added about 7000 acres to the original 800. The Long Branch Trail runs partially through this Lula Lake land and partially through privately owned acreage.

Also speaking at the ceremony were Commissioner Chris Clark of the DNR and Katherine Eddins, director of the Lula Lake Land Trust. Festivities included music by local group Letty and Georgia, a cookout, and a ribbon-breaking, rather than cutting, by the self-styled “Boonies,” a group of Chattanooga trail runners who raced through it as photographers snapped pictures.

Attending the event were Georgia Sen. Jeff Mullis and Rep. Martin Scott as well as Dade County Executive Ted Rumley and District 3 Commissioner Robert Goff. Other DNR officials present included Becky Kelley, state parks director; Joe Yeager, regional parks director; and Bobby Wilson, manager of Cloudland Canyon State Park.

In his speech, Commissioner Clark told the audience that the economy is one good reason to keep opening new trails and outdoor recreational opportunities even in times like these. “Sportsmen and outdoor folks spend $5 million a day in this state and add $7 billion a year to this state’s economy,” he said.

But given the drastic budget cuts the state has seen in the past year, he said, private/public partnerships like that between Lula Lake and the DNR are the wave of the future. “Partnerships were not a very big part of the rulebook,” said Clark. “We’re rewriting that rulebook now. This economy has made us do that.”

He urged citizens to participate in this kind of partnership between government and the private sector by joining their local Friends of the Park group.

A meeting to form a steering committee to create Friends of Cloudland Canyon State Park was held at the park on Thursday evening. Lookout Mountain Realtor Jeremy McDowell volunteered to act as interim president for the group, and Andy Fleming of the state Friends administration addressed the 20-odd volunteers who showed up on how Friends worked.

Once formed, the nonprofit group will raise funds for park initiatives, staff park projects and generally advocate for the park.

For more information on Friends groups, readers may go to www.savemystateparks.org., or call the park at (706) 657-4050.

And readers interested in checking out the Long Branch Trail may access it from Cloudland Canyon State Park by turning left onto Highway 136 East and proceeding to Highway 157. Turn left, go eight miles to Nickajack Road, and take a right. The trailhead is half a mile down on the right, just past a housing development called Long Branch Preserve.

Hiking, running, bicycling and horseback riding are allowed on the trail. ATVs and hunting are not. The trail is open seven days from 8 a.m.-7 p.m.