Russell Cave National Monument is a hidden gem about an hour outside of Chattanooga, TN. The visitor center has different artifacts about what life was like in the cave dating back to over 10,000 years ago.
The first time period that the park educates on is the Paleo-Indian Period. Which is sometime between 10-14,500 years ago. Very little is actually known about that time period. It’s quite amazing to think that some of the artifacts that could help modern humans learn about that time period are right there in the cave. Probably buried quite deep in the ground.
The second time period the park educates on is the Archaic Period. The Archaic Period is 3,200-11,450 years ago. This is when the larger Ice Age animals started to decline in population so humans adapted to smaller animals, vegetables and fish.
The third time period is the Woodland Period. The Woodland Period is 1,000-3,200 years ago and is when farming really started to take off. There are several interesting artifacts of this time period in the park’s visitor center.
The final period the Park educates on is the Mississippian Period which is 500-1,000 years ago when agriculture innovation really started to progress among the people who lived in Eastern North America.
The park itself is fairly small, but there are two wonderful trails you can walk on. One is more of a hiking/Nature trail which is the Russell Cave Trail. This trail is 1.1 miles long and does a loop around the side of the mountain. This trail is listed as a moderate level trail on the AllTrails app so we don’t recommend this trail for people who have heart issues or aren’t use to hiking up elevation. Here is the link to the trail on the AllTrails App: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/alabama/russell-cave-trail
Due to time we only walked on the shorter of the two trails which leads out to the cave. I can verify that this is an easy trail to walk on as shown in the Alltrails App. It is a short .4 mile out and back trail that goes right up to the entrance of the beautiful cave. Here is the link to the trail on the Alltrails App: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/alabama/cave-boardwalk-trail
Here are some directions to Russell Cave National Monument from the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga: https://maps.app.goo.gl/KyvK5yExhRFLtqdS7
In the area? Also check out our blog on Lookout Mountain: https://iveysadventures.com/point-park-trails-loop-lookout-mountain-tn/
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