6-30 Chimney Rock Park

Posted by JD 06/30/2008 at 22:01

Today was primarily a travel day from Atlanta to Raleigh, but I decided to take a side trip to see a waterfall. After much searching online, the best bang for my time dollars seemed to be Chimney Rock Park south east of Ashville, NC.

Due to my late start – around 1pm – I needed to make some good time to get to the park before the front gate closed at 4:30p. The park didn’t close until 7p, so getting inside was the only close deadline. With 5 minutes to spare and $14 lighter, I made it!

Seems many families come to the river (outside the park) and spend a week in this area. I could see many people laying out on rocks on the river (all free) when I arrived to town. The road was lined with little cottages and travel trailers and lots of sun burnt people walking around in swim-gear and cover ups. This was NOT Miami Beach.

Plan for my few hours in the park:

  1. See the waterfall – 404 ft drop
  2. Do whatever is left and can fit within the remaining time.
  3. Hike as much as possible
  4. exit the park by 7pm

Mission Accomplished. – Yeah, we’ve heard THAT before.

Hiked hickory Nut Falls Trail to the base of the waterfall. The trail to the top of the fall was closed for safety reasons. The park was private until about a year ago when the state of NC bought it. It seems the state has different safety requirements then the old owners and they deemed almost half the trails as unsafe – CLOSED.

Take the elevator to the signature rock and devil’s rock a little higher up.

Not much hiking – around 2.2 miles total today. Talk with a few workers leaving for the day to learn about the safety and the local area just a little.

I’m back on the road – I take back roads towards Ashville to get on I-40 so I can head east 200+ miles to Raleigh. 10:45p and I finally arrive.

Sorry, no interesting food today, just a subway sandwich on the I-26 turnoff. However, I did learn about a trip mapping website – mapmyride.com and when I get some time, I’ll play with it. I think it would be interesting to graphically show footsteps/car paths of travel, right?

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