One of our favorite hikes close by is the loop from Craven’s House to Point Park. The trail is packed with scenic vistas of Chattanooga below and Point Park boasts 180-degree views from the mountains east past downtown Chattanooga then west over the plateaus.

The Craven’s House is part of the Chattanooga National Military Park and was a scene of a major thrust up Lookout Mountain by Union troops. The house is only 2.6 miles from the Wauhatchie Woodlands cabin campus up Lookout Mountain past Ruby Falls right off Scenic Highway. You can begin your hike west toward Sunset Rock or east up the Mountain Beautiful trail. If you start westbound, you will turn up the mountain and circle back east toward Point Park.

You can access Point Park via a well-kept set of aluminum stairs up the bluff, offering a breathtaking view of the western sunset or awe-inspiring vistas of the Chattanooga Valley below. Afterward, you can descend and continue your hike back to Craven's House via the Mountain Beautiful trail.

Be sure to keep an eye out for plaques and monuments along the way. We recommend taking the short diversion trails for more civil war history tucked secretly in the woods of Lookout Mountain. Honestly, the Mountain Beautiful may be the prettiest stretch of trail in the miles of Lookout Mountain Military Park trail network.

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