Hi world! Chris here. I don’t have a whole lot to say this week, but I do have a whole lot to show you. And I’m actually kind of proud of some of these pictures. I’m no professional, but my phone’s camera really stepped up to the challenge this weekend.

My parents stepped up to their own challenge too. The challenge of hiking Chimney Rock at Chimney Rock State Park in North Carolina!

They used to hike all of the trails in one day when they were young, so when I wanted to spend my Friday walking up mountains, they decided they could do it too. Of course, we only managed a few of the trails instead of all of them, but what we did do was fully documented for your public viewing!

Chimney Rock Viewpoint

This is obviously one of the most iconic viewpoints at the park. It’s probably also the easiest to get to because there is actually an elevator that can take you there.

Devil’s Head Viewpoint

This point is only a little higher than the Chimney Rock view. It just takes a few flights of stairs to get to.

Apparently there is a rock shaped like a head on the edge of the cliff and that’s how it got the name. But I guess we’re just blind and we didn’t even notice it.

Exclamation Point Trail and Viewpoint

This is the final point before the trails really turn into hiking trails. Before this it’s mostly stairs that could be done without a lot of effort. After this point, the elevation is much higher, and the trail is just a gravel line in the woods.

Peregrine’s Point

This point lies about halfway through Skyline Trail which starts up after Exclamation Point. I believe it has the highest elevation of any points in the park, so it makes sense it was named after a bird. It also made us pretty excited to get here because we thought that meant the rest of the trail would be downhill.

We were wrong.

Skyline Trail and Viewpoint

Even though it doesn’t have the highest elevation, this is the last trail at the top of the mountain. It ends at the very top of Hickory Nut Falls where the water starts to cascade off the side of the mountain.

(Fun Story: Since we’d already been walking for, I don’t even know how long, my mom was really starting to give out on this trail. She had her camera in one hand and my dad was kind of helping her over rocks and logs with the other. We had already been talking about Lord of the Rings because my best friend is watching it for the first time, so my dad decided to offer her his own version of Samwise Gamgee’s best line.

“I can’t carry the camera, but I can carry you.”

-My Dad, 2019

He didn’t actually carry her, but it gave us something to laugh about. Maybe it lifted my mom’s spirits enough to finish the hike.)

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Hickory Nut Falls Trail

This is one of the lower trails at the park. It’s not completely at the bottom of the mountain because there are still a couple beneath it, but it does end just beneath the Skyline Trail in a place where all the water from Hickory Nut Falls makes a pool of water to play in.

The day started cold, got blisteringly hot, then cold, then hot again, and everything in between. But it really all came together to be one of my favorite days from this summer. It was just me and my parents being active and talking under God’s big blue sky.

He’s made a lot of wonderful things in this world and I think Chimney Rock is definitely one of them.

I haven’t really said that much about it, but I think that’s okay. I could tell a few more stories and really try to make the point, but sometimes it’s better to let the pictures speak for themselves. Or, better yet, you could go and let the park speak for itself.

If you do or if you don’t, try to stay safe out there.