Sugarland Mountain and The Chimney Tops

Hike #56 : November 23, 2015

10.1 miles

4.8 new miles
685.3 total overall miles

442.3 total miles of 800.8

View from atop the Chimney Tops

Hiking on a Monday is a rare treat so Randy and I decided on a rare hike to go along with that. This is a car drop hike and we meet at the Chimney Tops Trailhead, leave a car and drive towards Clingmans Dome to a connecting trail for a short walk along the AT leading to the Sugarland Mountain Trail. Its a frosty start in 19° weather under crystal clear blue skies.

Frosty start in the Smokies

The Sugarland Mountain Trail starts off a little rocky and well-worn as we made our way the half mile to the Mt. Collins Shelter that sits just off the trail.

Mt. Collins Shelter

Sugarland is a beautiful trail and a mostly easy hike down from Clingmans Dome road. There is an almost constant view from the left or right and sometimes both sides of the trail. With the leaves down, its quite amazing!

View from Sugarland Mountain Trail

At the 3.3 mile mark, we come to the manway to the Chimney Tops. It'd be easy to miss unless you're really looking for it. Anyway, we'll be taking this route later but for now we head on down Sugarland toward the junction with Rough Creek.

The trail begins a much more steep decline from here. It also offers up many more wonderful views along the way.

Another fantastic view!

Once we reach the junction at Rough Creek, we turn around and begin the arduous task of hiking back up the mile and a half to the manway we passed earlier. This is quite a climb. Since completing this section of Sugarland Mountain, I've now hiked the whole trail and I gotta say, I think it'd be a terrific trail to hike from end to end. Its just 12 miles but would require a long car drop. I imagine it would be a remarkable hike as I've enjoyed all three sections. You can read my blog on the other two here and here.

After finally making our way up the big climb, we arrive back at the manway to the Chimneys. The only marker, if you want to call it that, is the rotting remains of a fallen tree.

The Chimney Tops manway cuts to the left behind this stump

The manway begins at an elevation of just over 5,000 feet and immediately drops steeply. The snow on the ground makes things a little slippery but the footing is not too bad. The rhododendron is thick but is not very intrusive on the pathway. There's also some unique views along the way. The best of which is looking down at the Chimney Tops.

Looking down at the Chimneys from the manway

As many times as I've been to the Chimney Tops, up that grueling climb of a thousand steps, looking down on it gave a new and glorious perspective of it all. Breathtaking. Randy was thinking that getting a good view of what needed climbing may help the actual climb up to the top of the Chimneys. If anything, I think looking at it like this with the tiny little people climbing up... the vastness of the surrounding mountains... it may have had an opposite effect.

The manway itself is just under a half mile and drops a little over 200 feet. For the most part, its not too difficult. The footing can be a little tricky, especially with the fallen leaves and snow, but its a slow walk anyway. The rhododendron actually comes in very handy as something to hold on to when the hiking poles aren't enough. At one point, I slipped and would have wiped out pretty bad if not for catching myself on a big rhodo branch.

The manway comes to, and follows above, the official Chimney Tops Trail for a little while before popping out just before reaching the climb to the summit. Its not at all easy to see where the trails meet, at least not where we came out. Its absolutely amazing to me that the Chimneys can be accessed by hiking almost completely downhill. Who'd thunk it?

Randy and I had lunch with an amazing view before making the climb up. Well, I made the climb up. Randy came to his senses.

That's me making it to the top. Photo by Randy Hullinger

View from the Chimney Tops

View from the Chimney Tops

From here, we hiked down The Chimney Tops Trail, which is always loads of fun as all the tourist hikers are asking "how much further" and "are we almost there???". I feel their pain and revel in their misery. I'm a horrible person. Lol!

I look forward to doing this hike again someday. It was fantastic! Take out the 3 miles of hiking to Rough Creek and back and it'd be a relatively easy hike with huge payoffs. Until next time... happy trails!




TRAIL REVIEW

Sugarland Mountain Trail - 4.8 miles (plus 1.5 miles back from Rough Creek to the manway)

Chimney Tops Manway - .4 mile

Chimney Tops Trail - 1.1 miles

Road Prong Trail - .9 mile


Mt. Collins Shelter

Wanna hike the 900 without getting lost? Start by checking out the book Day Hiker's Guide To All The Trails In The Smoky Mountains by Elizabeth L. Etnier.

Hiking Trails of the Smokies or "The Little Brown Book" from the GSMA

Hiking Trails of The Great Smoky Mountains by Ken Wise

There is loads of information in the pages of GoSmokies.com.