As with all of life's achievements, we had to work for this one, but the rewards were well worth the effort. A 400-foot vertical climb up 500 stairs and a mile-and-a-half hike through hardwood forests took us to spectacular vistas and a 404-foot waterfall.
Chimney Rock is a 315-foot granite monolith just 535 million years young, an iconic sight in North Carolina. At 2280 feet above sea level, it offers 75-mile panoramic views of Hickory Nut Gorge and Lake Lure, where we spent the night.
Hickory Nut Falls is the second highest waterfall east of the Mississippi. Its dramatic height, its ancient forests, and its cliff-side paths served as a memorable backdrop to The Last of the Mohicans (1992, Daniel Day Lewis), which was filmed here.
Seen in the distance is beautiful Lake Lure, created when the Broad River was dammed in 1927 to produce hydroelectric energy. The movie Dirty Dancing (1987, Patrick Swayze) was filmed here, and we stayed and played at the historic Lake Inn and Spa, est. 1927, across the street.
