A couple of weekends ago,
Cody and I embarked upon a pursuit to find fall.
It was that whim which led us to Chimney Rock State Park in Chimney Rock, NC.
Chimney Rock has been on my local(ish) list of places to go for quite some time now.
Two years to be exact. Last year during Christmas we were supposed
to go with my Mom and her boyfriend, but things didn’t go
according to plan on account of the torrential down pour.
Thankfully, we waited for the perfect time to finally
make the trip back for our day at the rock.
There are a few trails that take you through the forest,
but we decided to save those for the way down!
We took the shuttle bus to the top instead.
Chimney Rock was fairly busy, although I still think
we picked a day that was far less crowded than most.
Along with the spectacular views of the Hickory Nut Gorge,
you will find a plethora of steps that lead you to the various alcoves
and overlooks.
Those require a little more work to get to,
but it’s well worth the extra effort to get that unique perspective.
(Opera Box – look closely)
The highlight, of course,
was the giant granite monolith that towered above the gorge.
An interesting tidbit:
A couple scenes from the movie The Last of the Mohicans was filmed in this state park.
One was the fighting sequence that took place at the top of Hickory Nut Falls.
I would have loved to catch this waterfall after a rain,
as you can see in this photo the watershed was pretty sparse.
I had a tough time photographing it.
After visiting the Chimney, and hiking to the waterfall
we decided to make our descent to the parking lot via the Four Seasons Trail.
It was down hill most of the way, tough on the knees, but not too bad.
I enjoyed being away from the crowds, plus I was able to soak up a little more fall.
It was a terrific way to spend the day.
So happy that we FINALLY had the chance to go.