This spring and summer I’ve had plantar fasciitis in my left foot. The symptoms from the plantar have made me cut back significantly on running and hiking, my two main forms of recreation. But luckily for me, bicycling does not aggravate the condition. Consequently, I’ve been biking regularly on the greenway in my neighborhood, and also riding on other trails around town, sometimes with my buddy DK.
While
talking with DK about trails to ride outside of Knoxville, one place we both wanted
to return to was the Enterprise South Nature Park outside of Chattanooga. We remembered lots of smooth flowy single track
trails, exactly the type of riding we both prefer.
Enterprise South Mountain Bike Trail Map.
One
side effect of cutting back on running and hiking was that I was also getting a
mild case of summertime cabin fever. So, when the next break in the summer heat
arrived, I decided to head down for a solo ride. Enterprise is a Hamilton
County Park located off I-75, just a little northeast of Chattanooga. It is
located on the former Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant. Enterprise was created
as part of the plan to revitalize the plant site after it was turned over to
the City of Chattanooga. 2,800 acres of the plant site became part of the
Nature Park, while another part of the property became the VW Chattanooga
Plant, which builds the Atlas and ID.4 SUVs.
Development
of the park started in 2006, leading to an opening in 2010. The park has hiking
trails, biking trails, horse trail, and mixed use trails on old roads and newly
developed single tracks. But its most unique feature is four dedicated mountain
biking only trails, covering about 16 miles.
Hard hat, gloves, and safety glasses, what could go wrong?
Around
that time Jean and frequently took a Labor Day weekend trip to Chattanooga,
riding the old roads at the Chickamauga Battlefield site, and exploring other
biking areas around town. In 2011, we stopped at Enterprise to ride the three
exiting single tracks, along with a paved road loop. We had a great time on
that ride, but just never got around to coming back.
After
a 12 year gap, I was hoping that conditions would be as a good as I had
remembered, but was braced that they would not. Mountain bike trails often
deteriorate over time, as the enthusiasm for maintaining never quits matches
the enthusiasm for building, and the heavy use of popular trails often degrades
them. But DK’s ride there had only been a few years previously, so the current
conditions should at least match his experience.
The
drive down is easy. I left at 7AM and got to the visitor center 93 miles away
at 8:30. The park was busy for a Monday morning with lots of cars and tons of
hikers and bikers. I stopped in the VC to pick up a map, then parked at the Poe
Run Trailhead where other riders were unpacking.
My
plan was to ride the daisy chain of the three older loops that Jean and I had
ridden in 2011, the Black Forest, TNT, and Log Rhythm trails. In 2011 the three
trails were rated beginner, intermediate, and advanced intermediate, but there
was little difference in their difficulty. I also hoped to add the Atlas Trail,
described as advanced and not suitable for beginners. The Enterprise trails are
one direction only. On a Monday ride I would be doing most loops
counterclockwise. The one direction only rule is for safety, as it eliminates
collisions with oncoming traffic, but it also gives riders a less crowded loop.
Just
a few minutes riding on the Black Forest Trail was enough to convince me the
trails were still as good as I remembered. All four are purpose built single
track, generally wide enough for easy maneuvering. The trail surfaces were
generally smooth, with occasional rooty areas or rock gardens, but none of
those obstacles was too severe, or lasted too long. Generally, the riding was
smooth enough to allow the rider to go fast enough, easily enough, to generate
a nice cooling breeze. It helped that I’d gotten an early start on a cooler,
low humidity day, and so was able to ride without becoming a sweaty mess. All four
trails weave through shaded woods, with some sections in pine forest with deep
carpets of needles.
Each
trail had a few terrain features (bumps, jumps, and logs, etc.) built in, but
those were always accompanied by a bypass route. The trails were also marked by
color coded numbered posts, but curiously the post numbers didn’t seem to match
up with the trail mileages. All the trail and road intersections were well
signed.
Start of the Atlas Trail.
I
was glad the CCW direction would give me a couple miles of warm up before I got
to the harder and unknown Atlas Trail. The rear brake on my bike my nearly 20
year old Fischer was essentially shot, and I needed to be conservative riding
with just the front brake working. A close look at the trail map shows some
alternate sections of Black Forest that are likely terrain features. I bypassed
those allowing me to reach the start of Atlas much sooner than I expected.
Atlas
Trail (named for the explosives company, not the VW SUV) would be my only
clockwise loop of the day. There was a short section of dirt road before
reaching the single track. I found there were a few rough sections, and a
couple short stiff climbs, but overall, the trail wasn’t significantly harder
that the others at Enterprise. At the south end of the loop there’s a view of
an I-75 exit, but otherwise its mostly a woods ride, with a couple of gorgeous
stretches through the pines. 
At the start of TNT Trail.
At
the end of Atlas, I saw my first hiker of the ride. He lived only a mile away
and was curious about the difficulty of the trail. I assured him that it was
only a small step from the other trails. Next up was TNT, another mostly smooth
flowy single track.
Log Rhythm Trail.
Following
that was Log Rhythm, the shortest of the four trails. The start of Log Rhythm
was a little rough, with rock garden set at the elbow of a sharp climb. But
once past the first tight corner it was back to forgiving riding. Log Rhythm is
a long skinny loop. On the return leg it passes ammunition storage bunker 75.
The bunkers are giant concrete domes built to store and protect ammunition.
They have heavy steel truck doors and a ventilation unit on the top. The most
unusual feature is the acoustics, a simple step on the floor yields a
resounding boom in return. Most bunkers now seem to be closed, while in 2011 we
were able to explore inside several. 
Bunker 75.
The
bunkers are all numbered and shown on the overall park map (but not on the bike
trails only version). Enterprise is remarkably organized; the bunkers, parking
areas, and gates are all numbered. The long logs used for trick riding by the
daring and skilled, and which give the Log Rhythm its name, are near the end of
the loop. 
The Yellow Bunker, aka The Tunnel of Boom.
Stopping
to check my map back at the Log Rhythm-TNT junction the first mountain biker of
the day whizzed past me. Yeah, I had just been relieved from cobweb breaking
duty! I’d be passed by only one other rider the rest of the day. There were
several other bunkers alongside TNT and Black Forest on the return route. One
bunker was kept open so riders can pass through the tunnel of boom.
Log Rhythm from 2011.
All
morning long I’d been riding faster than my time estimates. Making the last
turn back onto Black Forest I realized that I’d be done with the ride around
lunchtime, but was having too much fun to want to quit. I considered adding on
a ride on some of the paved hiker/biker roads, but decided to give my foot a
break, and head back home. The 15.7 miles took about 3:30 including stops,
pictures, and map reading. My GPS showed 1,000’ of climb, but GPS always reads
too high, elevation gain is not an issue at Enterprise. 
Inside view of the Yellow Bunker.
