On our first full day in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, we decided to tackle Chimney Tops Trail. This is a very popular trail, and we were told to arrive no later than 9am if we wanted a parking spot. And when we pulled up at 8:59am, we snagged the very last spot. Wohoo!
Sadly, there was a forest fire a few years ago, so the last 0.25 miles of the trail was closed. And unfortunately, that last part of the trail was where you could access the rock pinnacles which the trail is named after. I was secretly hoping that somehow the last part of the trail had opened back up, but a sign at the beginning of the trail clearly informed us that it had not. Oh well. Everyone we talked to said the trail was still worth it and the views from the new endpoint were still beautiful. So off we went!
Just a few feet down the path and we were already falling in love with the hike. The trail followed the gently flowing Road Prong Creek. There were several beautiful bridges as the trail crossed back and forth over the creek. The trail was mostly shaded with a constant supply of cool mountain breeze and birds chirping all around. It was a glorious day, and the hike felt so easy. The jaunt up to Clingmans Dome the previous day must have been a great warm up for us.
And then we rounded a corner to start our journey up the endless stairs. Man, I was out of shape. Or maybe it was the altitude. I live at sea level, so the Appalachians to me are like the Himalayas to others, right? There was another couple that had started the hike at roughly the same time as us and we would pass each other back and forth as we alternated stopping for pictures. I wasn’t about to let them know how hard this was for me, so I trudged on, pretending I was fit and athletic. But the stairs were unending, and I eventually (probably 2 minutes later) had to stopped for a break.
What seemed like an hour later of pure stairs, we came across 2 older men. Have you read the book or watched the movie called A Walk in the Woods? I felt like I was in the movie listening to the banter between Bryson and Katz. “Why are we torturing ourselves by walking up steps in a forest? We are old farts who should be watching TV and eating potato chips.” And, “I think we took the wrong turn about 2.5 miles ago. Should we turn around?” Listening to the non-stop jokes from these guys kept me going and we finally made it to the top.
While we couldn’t hike all the way to the Chimney Tops, the overlook at the new trail end was incredible. New(ish) bleacher like steps had been built, so everyone could sit and soak in the mountain views and sunshine. Off to the left, you could see the rock pinnacles poking up from charred trees and black landscape. Hopefully the last little stretch will be open the next time we make it to the Great Smoky Mountains 🙂
