Today’s goal was hiking on Chimney Tops Trail. It is 3,3 miles round trip with elevation gain of 1487 ft and with difficulty rating of 6.27. The first half of the trail was moderate difficult, however the 2nd half of the trail was steeper with almost 1000 ft elevation gain. There are well built stairs and it is not difficult if one rest periodically. The last portion of the trail is closed due to fire damage in nearby area, however some of younger hikers just climbed over the locked gate and climbed to the top of the rock pinnacles which known as Chimney Tops. I also climbed over the locked gate just for a photo opportunity.
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| Chimney Tops Trail |
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| Chimney Tops Trai |
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| Chimney Tops Trail |
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| Chimney Tops Trail |
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| View of Chimney Tops (the rock pinnacles ) |
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| Behind the locked gate for photo opportunity |
After we got back to Oconaluftee Visitor Center, we decided to make another hike on Oconaluftee River Trail which is a 3 miles round trip trail with 70 ft elevation gain and the difficult rating is 3.4. The trail was built along the Oconaluftee River all the way to the boarder of the park and adjacent to the Cherokee town. It was a pleasant and easy hike after the Chimney Tops trail.
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| Fall foliage on the Oconaluftee River Trail |
When we got back to the filed next to Oconaluftee Visitor Center, there were a lot of elks eating grasses on the field. We did just like many other visitors and took lots of pictures.
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| More elk photo |
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| More elk photo |
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