Biking Glenn-Kelly Road, a minor park road in the Chickamauga unit of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park
Bike riding is permitted within the Chickamauga Unit of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park on all paved and gravel roads within the Chickamauga Unit, but not on the trails. Most of the gravel roads at the Chickamauga Battlefield are located in the northwest section west of Lafayette Road and north of Dyer Road. In addition, this area contains paved roads that are closed to traffic. These are indicated by a gray dotted line on the park trail map, in contrast to the white dotted line for the gravel roads. Solid gray lines are paved roads.
There is one other gravel road in the southeast section, but the purpose of this road is more for getting to the Hunt Cemetery than for going on a bike ride, as no loop can be formed. Furthermore, there is less than 1.5 miles of road in that area.
Though the majority of the park is flat, the northwest section offers the park’s only hills (this is where Snodgrass Hill and Horseshoe Ridge are located). While far from what most people would consider to be mountainous, riding the hills can be moderately difficult. If a hill is too much for you to handle, just get off your bike and push it—there’s no shame in it.
Typical paved road open to biking but closed to automobiles in the Chickamauga unit of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park
Typical gravel road open to biking in the Chickamauga unit of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park
I ride a mountain bike and stay off major roads if at all possible, as my life is worth more than a bike ride. Mountain bike riders can make a loop out of the gravel roads, paved-for-bikes roads, and minor park automobile roads at the northwest section of the park, venturing onto major roads for only brief moments. Street bike riders cannot make any sort of loop without traveling on major roads, which are Lafayette, McFarland Gap, and Reed’s Bridge Road. All other paved roads within the park boundaries are used mainly for park traffic and, depending on the season, are lightly traveled by cars that maintain fairly slow speeds as the passengers view the monuments and other sites. Unless you want to ride your street bike out and back on the same paved-for-bikes road, there’s not much you can do to avoid one of the major roads. I realize that many street bike riders have no fear of cars, but until somebody builds a bike that comes out on top in a car / bike collision, riding on the street is not for me. I don’t want “He Had the Right-of-Way” on my tombstone.
I rode the gravel roads in the northwest section, but rather than recap my particular ride, I will just make a few general suggestions, as anyone with the trail map can plan out a ride suited to the distance he / she wants to travel. The best way to form a loop for your ride is to park in one of the two parking lots on McFarland Gap Road. I began my ride at the lot closest to Lafayette. If you bike southward and form a loop, you most likely will come back to McFarland Gap Road at the second parking lot and will have to travel a short distance along McFarland Gap Road to get back to the first lot. Despite a 35 MPH speed limit, the cars zoom by on this road, so ride as fast as you can between the two lots to get off the road as quickly as possible. For those curious, the campground that you pass shortly after leaving the parking lot is a campsite for Boy Scouts only.
There are plenty of monuments along the way, so if you stop to check them out you can concoct a 1-2 hour ride in the area. My ride was a little over an hour, but I did not travel all the way to Dyer Road, instead cutting west around the Snodgrass Hill area.
Tennessee Infantry Monument in the Chickamauga unit of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park
25th Tennessee Regiment Infantry Monument in the Chickamauga unit of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park
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Last updated on June 30, 2024