Park #39 – Chimney Rock

Date visited: May 8, 2018

This is our first visit back to a new state park after our daughter was born on April 4, 2018 without breath. Mamie Laine Davis, 5.4 oz and 17 inches, we believe never knew pain or suffering.  She offered us such joy and the capacity to love in a way we never imagined.  She was surrounded by warmth, community, and love during her short time on earth. At 34 weeks 5 days in Rebecca’s womb, she was able to visit 18 state parks with us. We are now taking it one breath at a time to accept the moment by moment reality of life without her here. It hurts like a pain we’ve never known, but there is beauty in the pain too. She is truly missed and lives on in our hearts always as we continue our journey through the rest of the state parks.

Rebecca and I set out for Chimney Rock after a short visit with friends in King, NC. During that visit, we hiked the Lower Cascades Trail at Hanging Rock to view the Lower Cascades waterfall. We were pleased to finally see the Lower Cascades waterfall since we only saw the Upper Cascades waterfall back in April 2017.

Chimney Rock State Park is located 25 miles southeast of Asheville. This park offers a variety of well kept hiking trails for all levels showing spectacular views of the Hickory Nut Gorge. The Hickory Nut Gorge is located on the edge of the Blue Ridge Escarpment which separates the Piedmont from the Blue Ridge Mountains. The gorge is also home to Hickory Nut Falls, a 404 foot waterfall. The Chimney Rock, where the park gets its name sake, is a 535-million-year-old monolith. It is considered one of the most iconic sites in the state. The park is located near Lake Lure. Movies like Dirty Dancing were partially filmed near Lake Lure and Last of the Mohicans at the Hickory Nut Gorge.

Chimney Rock is the only state park that has an admission fee. We started our visit by paying $13.00 each at the admission gate and getting our passport stamp. From there, we drove to the top of the parking area. It was a mostly clear and warm spring day. We packed snacks and started walking toward the trails. We noticed a souvenir shop to our left. It was then that I told Rebecca that this park is geared toward tourists. I proceeded to tell her that I was glad we decided to visit during a weekday as I suspect the park to be crowded with tourists on the weekends. We made our way to the start of a number of the trails. The first trail was the Outcropping Trail, a series of 499 stairs leading to the Chimney Rock. The elevator was out of use during our visit. However, visitors can pay a little extra to ride the elevator when it is in use. At the start of the Exclamation Point Trail, we saw the Devil’s Head, a popular geological formation, resembling a head. We continued to the end of the Exclamation Point Trail which took us 200 feet above the Chimney Rock to one of the highest lookout points in the park. We continued on the Skyline Trail where we walked along the forest, crossed streams, and observed the upper cascades of Hickory Nut Falls. We were disappointed in the view of the falls. We noticed just a small amount of rolling water that trickled down the gorge. Over two miles at the end of the trail, we turned back toward the parking area for about four miles hiking round trip. On our way back, Rebecca saw a snake and let out a scream.  She was ahead of me, so I didn’t know what happened.  She assured me it was just a garden snake and not to worry.   We encountered visitors asking us questions like how much further to the end and how is the view. We gave vague answers not to spoil the hike for them. Overall, we enjoyed the splendid views at Chimney Rock along with the well maintained and constructed trails. We felt a bit like we were at an amusement park which was unique when compared to the other parks.

Picture One – View overlooking Lake Lure near the parking lot

Picture Two – Rebecca is standing at the beginning of the Outcroppings Trail

Picture Three – Rebecca and I are standing on top of Chimney Rock

Picture Four – Chimney Rock view overlooking Lake Lure

Picture Five – View of the Hickory Nut Gorge

Picture Six – Devil’s Head view

Picture Seven – Rebecca is standing near the beginning of the Exclamation Point Trail

Picture Eight – I’m standing near the beginning of the Skyline Trail

Picture Nine – The top of Hickory Nut Falls at the end of the trail