Natural Chimneys Regional Park

To break up my long drive back to Greeneville, I decided to stop at a place I had seen pictures of in a book long ago, and had always thought looked impressive. I made a slight detour off of Interstate-81 and headed over to the Natural Chimneys Regional Park. I parked my car at the gravel parking lot near the chimneys and walked around and read the interpretive panels about the geologic attraction.

The chimneys are formed in limestone and did not get weathered away like the surrounding limestone due to a cap of resistant chert.

Besides the chimneys, there are some interesting tunnels and caves formed in this limestone.

I went into one of the caves that had not been blocked off.

Since I did not have a light I did not go far though. From the cave I found a trail that led up to an observation point near the tops of the chimneys.

There was a nice view of the tops of the formations and the distant mountains. The quarter mile walk was a nice diversion and when I returned to my car I was ready to make the rest of the drive back to Greeneville.