Hickory Nut Falls

My son and I started our two week road trip visiting cities and going to the beach and hanging out at a theme park. So, to change it up a bit, we decided to go hiking between visiting my dad in North Carolina and visiting Knoxville.

We really only had time to go to one place, so I chose Hickory Nut Falls, which is located in Chimney Rock State Park. Something I didn’t know before we went is that it does cost about $20 to drive into the state park. There are 2 options to parking. You can park down below and take a shuttle to the top, or you can drive all the way to the top. The road wound around a lot. It was weaving back and forth up the mountain and at times, it was very difficult to see if other cars were coming. However, I was happy with my choice to drive all the way up though, so that I didn’t have to wait for the shuttle.

At the top parking lot, there is a building where you can buy souvenirs. There are also restrooms. It’s a nice area. I guess that there’s usually an elevator to take you to the top of Chimney Rock, but when we were there, it was out of order. And to hike up to Chimney Rock was climbing up 500 stairs. There was no way I was going to make it so we just took in the views from the benches set up in front of the gift shop. It was seriously beautiful!

We took our time during our hike to Hickory Nut Falls as we climbed down a set of stairs and took the amazing mile long hike to see the 404-foot waterfall. It’s not necessarily a difficult hike. I’m sure some people classify it as an easy hike. However, it’s not flat. There are some stairs. There are some logs to step over. It does go uphill. There are rocks to climb over. It was a great little hike though. I would definitely recommend it to people that are only mildly into hiking. When we arrived at the waterfall, my son had a great time climbing down to the rocks and playing in the water at the bottom of the falls.

It definitely took way less time to hike back. That is, until we reached the hundred and seventy some steps back to the parking lot. Those sucked. But I made it. And I loved the hike. I would absolutely do it again. And you should check it out too!

Owen’s Notes: “It was pretty exhausting to get there, but once we got to Hickory Nut Falls, it was beautiful! I got to climb around on rocks to get to the bottom of the waterfall. I got soaked!”