Frozen Head State Park: Chimney Top to the Tower

This State Park located between Wartburg and Oliver Springs is one of Tennessee’s best State Parks for hiking. In fact, as you climb one of the many park trails you may have more of a feeling that you are hiking in a National Park or National Forest. How many State Parks have you visited with 80 miles of hiking trails? I have been to National Parks with less trail mileage. Today would be a challenging hike as I took what the park refers to as a strenuous trail with 5000 feet of elevation gain. I stopped for a restroom break and checked out the CCC memorial near the parking lot.

So as you enjoy the many trails of Frozen Head, pause for a moment and give thanks to the many CCC members of Company 1463 who built facilities and trail for what would eventually become Frozen Head State Park. At the time of the CCC Camp this was Morgan State Forest and it became a State Park in 1970.

As stated earlier, signs at the visitor center indicate a 5000 mile elevation gain on this trail. I later discovered that this figure was for hiking the same trail down. The trail climbs the mountain then goes like a roller coaster between the mountains which means you gain it, then you lose it. I was over 3000 and was still climbing but that point had figured out that you would gain some on the way down and that was comprised the 5000 feet. If you went straight up to the Frozen Head tower it would be about 2000 feet elevation gain. As you approach the trailhead, you get another reminder that this is a strenuous hike to allow 6 hours for the hike to the top.

Note that you are warned to be off the trail by one hour before sunset. I noted that I had roughly 9 hours to do the entire hike. I had no plans for taking the same trail down. What I did plan was a 6 summit day with 4 on the way to the tower via the Chimney Top trail.

I did something a little different on this hike with my GPS track. I did a “Save” at each summit; thus, having a record of mileage at each mountain I climbed. The first on the list was Love Mountain.

It felt like I did far more switch backing than was indicated by my GPS track. It was mostly climbing the first section before reaching the gap where you must leave the trail for Love Mountain. Limited views are seen on this section of trail.

The trail turns to the left to head up to Chimney Top, while a fairly open ridge allows for easy off trail hiking summiting Love Mountain.

You come to the top of a ridge that is part of Chimney Top Mountain. You head left on a very nice open ridge that is almost like being on a trail.

In fact, as I walked I started noticing faint ATV tracks that got more pronounced as I was now heading down to the Gap between Chimney Top and Love Mountain. I noticed a tarp at the gap and wondered if I might be walking into a Poachers camp. Not a pleasant thought and I could not hear or see anyone. Yet when I got to the tarp I found that it was covering a waterhole complete with a cup tied to a string.

You just never know what you are gonna see off the beaten path! As I headed up to summit Love Mountain the ATV tracks were now well defined.

And soon I was near the top of Love Mountain.

There were no views, but the hike to summit the mountain was easy enough and pleasurable.

Love Mountain is at 2610 feet. We began the hike around 1400 feet at the Visitor Center. I checked my GPS at each summit and thus far had a total elevation gain of 1739 feet. There had been one large drop before heading up Rough Ridge and onto Love Mountain. GPS had current elevation at 2651 feet and said I had hiked 3.66 miles.

When I uploaded my GPS later the track profile showed 3.1 miles up to this point. I have the Garmin 64st which is their latest model. So far I have please pleased as it appears to have a slight edge over the 60 series in track accuracy. One interesting thing I have noted is that my 60 series GPS often showed far less mileage than what the track profile later showed. The opposite has been true of my 64st. As you can see my track was a hale mile less than what my GPS was showing at this point.

The off trail portion to Love Mountain was .6 miles round trip.

It is a short distance to reach Chimney Top; however, you have a steep climb to reach its summit at 3145 feet.

As you come to the end of the steep climb you have your first glimpse of why it is called Chimney Top.

Now how to reach the summit? I saw a little side trail that lead to small rock shelter.

I did not see any other trail so I just started walking around the huge rock looking for a way up.

Finally I saw a spot where I could scramble up some rocks and use a tree to pull myself up to the top. Oddly enough I found myself amidst a small grove of trees.

I was a little nervous about going down the way I came up so I started walking around to see if there was a better spot for going down. For anyone else that decides to do this hike there is a much easier way than the way I came up. I will show you a picture from the top in a moment. But for now, I was relieved to know there was an easier way down. Views were limited as I walked around exploring until I came to the other end.

As you walk toward the ledge the view shows you why the effort is a worthy one.

Garmin’s map shows the summit at 3145 feet, however, a sign at the top indicates 3120 feet. But with views like this, I was not going to waste energy worrying about 25 feet.

Checking my GPS readings at this point it showed 2359 elevation gain. The GPS agreed with the sign as it had me at 3120 feet. So far I had been hiking for 2 hours and 40 minutes. The 6 hour hike that the visitor center signs shows does not include off trail hiking but I figured I was on course to do it in 6 hours which would leave me 3 to get down. My GPS showed that I had hiked 4.71 miles so far but my track showed 4 miles. The trail itself according to the Park Map is 6.8 miles but I will show you something interesting later in the blog.

 

If your camera has a zoom then you can zoom on down to Wartburg and check out the big city action.

Or you can zoom away from civilization and check out the other mountains surrounding you.

Another thing I found interesting when I zoom in on my Garmin track is that I could not see where I went up at. The track circle I believe is where I went to the rock shelter. From there I went up right above Garmin’s waypoint for the summit which is obviously off the summit. The track coming down from the top is very close to where I went up so had I walked a little farther I would have seen it. Still it looks like a tiny piece is missing where I went up.

As promised here is a shot from the top looking down at the very obvious route down.

As I headed back to the trail another hiker was coming up. We stopped for a moment and I pointed him the easy route to the top. My good deed being done it was time to head for the next summit.

For anyone tough enough to backpack this trail there are actually backcountry sites in this State Park which is another feature that sets Frozen Head apart from your average State Park. Mart Fields Campsite is located for your backcountry pleasure along the Chimney Top trail.

Of course some hikers are naturally equipped for backcountry travel and need no accommodations.

The third summit is Little Fork Mountain which Garmin has at 3165 feet. Of course you drop down from Chimney Top and once again climb to reach the summit of Little Fork.

To reach the actual summit you have to leave the trail but it is less than 200 feet to the top. My track showed about 400 feet round trip but I did walk around a bit.

There are no views from the top, but it is an easy off trail trek and one that peak baggers will see as easy.

A little bit longer trail between mountains for this one as my track map shows me at 5.5 miles at this point. Readings from my Garmin had me at 6.37 Miles with elevation gain at 2919 feet. Thus far I had been hiking for 3 hours 50 minutes.

While the summit was not that interesting, just below it along the trail was something of interest.

I wondered if this was an actual home site or built by the CCC to house men working on the trail. The large camp is well below; however, there must have been smaller camps to build the trails higher up the mountain. A sign near the chimney indicates this as another campsite.

Other interesting items are near the chimney.

And just to peak my interest even more there are springhouse remains just a little farther down the trail. So was this a CCC structure or a home site?

Now the next mountain is not far at all. In fact the trail does a turn and heads back below Little Mountain.

There is even a big sign to make sure that you do not miss the turn.

However, if you want to summit Indian Knob then you will need to bypass the sign and keep heading straight across the ridge or as I found out later there is another possibly easier route. I will get back to that.

The top of this ridge is quite rocky which makes you wonder what you may have to endure at the summit. Given its name and what I saw starting out it was a valid concern. I noticed contour lines coming together ahead of me and knew that it mean an obstruction ahead. If you keep walking straight you will come to a large rock which was indeed the obstruction. So you have to drop down and go around. Both sides are steep but it was not too difficult. I went around to the left but ended up dropping down again on the right side of another rock. I hopped off a boulder about 4 feet and looking back wonder if I might want to find a different route back. I soon ended up on the left side again and saw this Arch. Technically it is not an arch but we will call it that for now.

I came out on the other side and the right picture is a shot from that angle. Eventually, I was nearing the summit and was relieved to see an obvious and easy path to the summit.

Unfortunately, there were no views.

However, the rock formations found along this ridge make the hike well worth the effort.

The Garmin map shows Indian Know at 3110 feet which is actually lower than the previous two mountains. So far my elevation gain was 3055 and Mileage 7.29 compared to the track map which shows mileage at 6.3. Time at Indian Knob was at 4 hours 30 minutes.

I tried a different route going back staying on the right side of the ridge. Just below the pseudo arch I spotted an old trail so I dropped down and followed the old trail. I went up to investigate a small rock shelter that would a good place to if you needed shelter in an emergency.

As I dropped back down to the old trail, I noticed a sign below me. It seems that I had dropped right back down on the park trail.

So, you can follow the ridge at the sign or stay with the trail until you see this sign and go a little way above it and pick up the unmaintained trail and stay on that side of the ridge until you reach Indian Knob. My track showed the off trail portion of this side trip at .6 miles.

Now lets add the next portion of the hike so you can see where the trail heads off from Indian Knob.

You follow below the ridge for awhile with some interesting rock cliffs above. At one point through an opening in the trees you get a great view of Wind Rock.

On a clear day I can see Wind Rock from the parking lot where I work of Hardin Valley Road. I can see it some days on my drive into work from Pellissippi highway. For non-locals lets just say it is several miles away.

The trail drops to a gap and a junction with the first possible option for abandoning the hike.

I have no idea why there were several boxes with jugs of water at this trail junction. I wondered if it was for a scout troop planning to camp in the area but that was a lot of water. There are not a lot of water sources in the area but it still did not seem to make sense that the park would have put it there for hikers. If they did then they should have put up a sign indicating it was there for the taking. If I would have been in dire straits then I might have taken some but I felt I had an adequate supply so decided to leave it be for someone who was in need.

The Spicewood trail would have been a shorter route down; however; it did appear to do the same roller coaster up and down that I had been experiencing with the Chimney Top trail. Besides, I still felt confident I had time to finish my hike in the allotted time. That is one thing different about State Parks is that you can not be hiking after dark. Unless of course, you are backpacking, which does require a permit.

The trail now becomes a road bed as you begin your hike up to the tower on Frozen Head.

As you come to the end of the Chimney Top trail the South Old Mac trail comes up from near the Park Office 2.75 miles away. This was the route I wanted to take down as it was all down and the fastest way back to my car.

Just beyond this trail junction the Chimney Top trail ends and I want you to note the mileage on the sign.

The park map shows 6.8 but the sign shows 7.4 miles. Since I did some off trail side trips, I could not say which one is correct. The next sign indicates a nearby campsite which we will see after the tower. Armes Gap is at Highway 116 which I had considered as a starting point for my hike. It says 1.7 miles on the signs but the park map indicates 2.3 miles. However, the park map may be including the half mile that I now needed to hike to the tower.

A gravel road leads to the top and the tower and Frozen Head Mountain at 3324 feet. The original CCC fire tower was replaced by the park with an observation deck.

I do not know how high the original tower was, but the observation tower was not as high or as intimidating as some of the other towers I have visited. Not sure how or why, but I have a moderate fear of heights. I say moderate because it seems to be situational. I can go on a roller coaster with no issue at all. But walking up several steps to a tower gets my stomach to rolling.

Right under the tower you will find the geological marker.

I made it to the top of the deck without any stomach butterflies which made enjoying the views that much better.

Beautiful views all around me.

I enjoyed the panorama for awhile before deciding that it was time to head down.

I made it up to the tower in just under six hours which was not bad considering the off trail and summiting 4 other mountains before Frozen Head. My GPS read that I had 3692 feet elevation gain and had hiked 10.15 miles. You can see from my map that the track was 8.9 miles. From my tracks the off trail was about 1.3 miles. So if the Chimney Tops trail was 6.8 miles plus a half mile to the tower then my mileage would be 8.6 miles. Using the 7.4 mile figure from the sign then I would have hiked 9.2 miles. Thus, I would say that my track map mileage was more accurate than what my GPS was reading. Traditionally, I have found the track maps to be more accurate and made sense; thus, I typically use the track map to record data.

It was interesting doing this experiment with the GPS and tracks; however, it was time consuming and not sure it is something I want to do all the time. Therefore, if you found all this dialogue trite and boring, then you will be happy to hear me say that this was a one blog deal. Now lets go check out Tub Springs Campsite.

Once again we find a chimney located at a campsite. Even more interesting is the fire pit in front of the chimney. You do not see this every day.

Home Site or CCC structure? Again, I do not know.

I decided to make a sixth summit of Old Mac as it was just to close to pass up. I headed a short distance down the North Old Mac trail.

On the map you can see how close it was and why I decided to go for it.

The trail was descending fast and I found I was right under the summit so it seemed like a good idea to leave the trail and head on up.

It was a little steep but otherwise easy off trail climb up to the top of Old Mac at 3160 feet; and, once again no views.

Elevation gain at this point was 3869 feet. Trip computer showed 11.05 miles versus track map at 9.7 miles It was now 4:09 and I had 2 hours and 10 minutes to be back to my car.

I was glad that I did it because I would like to make the trip to the tower again from Highway 116 and go to some of the other summits along the ridge. I could easily skip Old Mac to make more time for the others now.

Rather than drop down and have to climb back up the North Mac trail, I went down the other side hoping to come back closer to all the trail junctions. By a stroke of luck I came down directly on the South Mac trail.

The off trail portion of the hike to Old Mac was a whopping .3 miles. Other than some large rock outcroppings, the off trail hiking at Frozen Head had been fairly open and easy.

It finally came to me that what was missing was rhododendron. The Smokies have mountainsides covered in rhododendron. If you took away the rhododendron it would probably be fairly open like Frozen Head. That is not to say that the trails are a piece of cake. Chimney Top is not an easy hike and you are told this more than one before you even hit the trail. The mountains here may not be covered with rhododendron; however, they are steep. I would now be dropping just under 2000 feet in 2.75 miles but it was nice to be going down after a long day of climbing up 6 mountain tops.

As you make your way down the trail you see several signs of CCC trail creation.

The trail follows above Judge Branch and I wondered as I listen to the creek below if there were any waterfalls on the upper portion of this creek. Farther down you come to a junction with the Judge Branch trail which drops you down to the creek and follows the creek down near the park road.

I thought about doing this trail but decided to continue down the South Old Mac trail. I had seen on the park map where a CCC Dynamite Shack was supposed to be just of the trail. It was not long before I came to the shack.

It was pretty demolished on the inside, but I was amazed that it was even standing after all these years.

I did take the Interpretive trail thinking it might get me over to my car. Instead it took me on a .4 mile loop that brought me back out on the South Mac trail. It turn out to be a good mistake as I found several remains of the old CCC camp foundations. Sadly, a lot of my pictures came out very bad so I will need to go back sometime.

Back at the junction with the trail is a memorial marker for three men who lost their lives in service for the CCC.

A heartfelt thanks to all those CCC boys who did hard and often dangerous jobs creating recreation trails and facilities that we still enjoy today. I felt a little like I had done a patriotic hike today, especially after I looked at my final track map for the entire hike.

Looks like a distorted map of the United States! In the end the track showed 13.3 miles compared to my GPS trip computer which was 15 miles. Elevation gain for the day was 3906 feet. I got out to the road with 1 minute to spare! I had about a 3 minute walk to my car but I was off the trail in time. Talk about cutting it close!

Frozen Head State Park has a lot to offer to families who just want a nice stroll to some pretty waterfalls. But it also offers so excellent and challenging hikes not often found in State Parks. It is truly a hiker’s paradise with a lot to offer.

On a side note: Recently I have tried to be more detailed about my hikes and have broken them up into a smaller series of blogs. I had mixed feelings about doing this as I felt like I was monopolizing some of the sites that I was posting on and it just seemed to drag out what was one hike. On the other hand, if you put that much detail into one blog then it feels long and drawn out. I am open to constructive comments from readers who follow my blogs on these formats. Do you like it broke up into a series or one longer blog? My other concern is getting burned out as I have been at that stage before. With that said, I thank all of you who read my blogs and my hope is that they are of some help to current readers and those that may find them in the future.

Mike's Peakery page

Mike's Peakbagger page

Mike's GoSmokies blog index