Lookout Mountain

Three separate attractions share the mountain. Ruby Falls is a waterfall about twenty-six metres high inside the mountain, found in 1928 when Leo Lambert was drilling a lift shaft to reach a known cave and broke into an unknown passage instead; it is reached by lift and a long walk underground. Rock City is a garden of natural sandstone formations laid out with paths through narrow gaps, whose owners from 1935 had See Rock City painted on over nine hundred barn roofs and walls in nineteen states. The Incline Railway climbs the mountain at up to seventy-two percent grade near the top, one of the steepest passenger inclines anywhere.

What to look for

• Ruby Falls - a twenty-six-metre waterfall inside the mountain.
• Rock City - sandstone formations and the barn-roof campaign.
• The Incline Railway - up to seventy-two percent grade.
• A Civil War battlefield - Point Park at the northern end.

When to go

April to October. A full day for all three.

Good to know

Each attraction charges separately and they add up quickly. Ruby Falls involves a long underground walk in narrow passage. Summer queues are long. The Rock City claim of seven states visible is disputed and depends on conditions.

Nearby

Chattanooga is below; the Tennessee River Gorge is west.

Key facts