Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Chimney Rock - Lake Lure
Angie liked the view of the river from our Campsite at Hickory Nut Falls Campground. The photo that she took to the left looks up the Rocky Broad River. It was definitely rocky and somewhat broad. It was also noisy! The tremendous power of the water rushing against the huge boulders reminded me of the sound of turbine generators in a power plant.
The first afernoon that we arrived at Chimney Rock - Lake Lure was spent hiking to the top of Chimney Rock and Hickory Nut Falls. Rain was predicted by evening so we went right at it and got it done. To the right is the view, looking east, of part of Lake Lure from Chimney Rock.
There were beautiful rock formations. You can take aloop hike from Chimney Rock to the top of Hickory Nut Falls. We hiked across the top to the falls and then took the lower trail back as you see in the picture.
The photo to the right is a view from the upper trail looking west up Hickory Nut Gorge.
Of course, there are stairs to be climbed around this place! We lucked out. We came down these stairs after passing through the needle's eye. This is a rather narrow crevasse with stairs going all of the way down. There is definitely a wide load limit going through the needle's eye but those who would exceed it wouldn't have the stamina to walk up here in the first place. Those large people who would take the elevator to the top are advised that it is possible to get stuck up here.
When you hike the upper trail to Hickory Nut Falls, you don't see anything but a lot of water disappearing over the edge. Of course, you are advised to not ride the water down. There is a nice easy trail to the base of the falls that begins at the lower end of the parking lot. It provides a good view of the falls.
# posted by Bob @ 11/01/2006 10:26:00 PM 
