Hiking Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller
Date: November 30, 2023
After driving at 25 mph through at least a dozen switchbacks ascending a North Carolina ridge, we drove though the Hamlet of Bat Cave, North Carolina. Yes, there is a protected cave of bats in the nearby forest. Eight miles later we entered Chimney Rock State Park famous for its 315-foot granite monolith called Chimney Rock. Our first hike was Exclamation Point Trail, a .6-mile trail consisting mostly of steps up the rock cliff. I was slowly recovering from an upper respiratory infection, so this ascent was hard on my lungs. We stopped at Chimney Rock, elevation 2,280 feet, for a panoramic view of Lure Lake, 13 distant mountains and the gorge far below. Hiking up a mix of stones and steps another 125 feet, I took a photo looking down at famous chimney rock (Photo #3). Farther up we ducked under a natural outcrop of rocks called Opera House (Photo#5) for a view of the valley from the north. After many switchbacks, we stopped our hike at the beginning of Skyline Trail near the summit as it was too late in the day to continue that cliff top trail. Descending the rocky trail, we came upon an overlook called Devil’s Head (Photos #6 & #7), a natural rock formation balancing on the cliff side that looked like a devil’s head.
After hiking as we ate a delicious meal of hot crab bisque soup and a trout sandwich at Lastrada Restaurant. We were told that across the street the water dance scene for the movie “Dirty Dancing” was filmed in Lure Lake.
