An Amazing Smoky Mountain Trail That Will Never Be The Same - Chimney Tops Trail || 2024-20

We headed to the Smoky Mountains to finally hike Chimney Tops trail, a moderate 3 mile round trip adventure that has an elevation gain of 1,400+. A beautiful trail along the cascading waters of Road Prong Creek, with plenty of wildflowers and greenery shading you along the way. It's a bummer that the final 1/4 mile of the trail is still closed from the devastating fire back in 2016, but they have constructed an observation deck that provides some panoramic views of Mount LeConte and the Chimney Tops pinnacles.

The Chimney Tops fire was started by two juveniles playing with matches in November of 2016. After several months of exceptional drought conditions, and winds gusts reaching more than 80 mph that afternoon, the fire literally exploded. Over the next several hours it burned almost 18,000 acres, including 11,410 acres within Great Smoky Mountains National Park. From Chimney Tops the fire raced north, passing around the edges of downtown Gatlinburg and reaching the outskirts of Pigeon Forge. Before it was brought under control the fire killed 14 people, injured more than 176 people, and damaged or destroyed at least 2460 structures at a cost of more than $500 million.

Prosecutors ended up dropping charges against the two boys that were initially labeled as being responsible for starting Tennessee’s largest and deadliest wildfire. The investigation confirmed multiple fires with multiple points of origin, it became impossible to prove which fire may have caused the death of an individual or damage to a particular structure, and with the park being Federal land, there was a grey area of who had legal jurisdiction to pursue a prosecution in the park.

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