GUILD TRAIL

The Guild follows the bed of the original Guild incline up the east face of Lookout Mountain, which means it climbs at a railway's grade rather than a hiking trail's. That makes it one of the few long climbs around Chattanooga you can actually run the whole way up. TrailLink measures the corridor at five miles one way, from Ochs Highway to Scenic Highway.

Most people run it from the bottom to Cravens House and back, which works out around 5.4 miles with roughly 666 feet of net gain. A connector down into St. Elmo was finished in September 2025, so the route now runs continuously from the top of the mountain into the neighbourhood.

The Guild does not join the Bluff Trail directly, which catches people out. It meets the Upper Truck Trail at the switchback, and from there you pick up Bluff either by Gum Springs, which is short and steep, or by the Cravens House Trail, which is about seven tenths of a mile.

One navigation trap worth knowing before you set off: Guild Trail is also a residential street name in most map databases. Route to 498 Ochs Highway, not to the trail name, or your phone will take you somewhere else entirely.