Jackie Steffan — 6.2 mile loop — 3.5-4 hours — Moderate — 1260 ft. Elevation gain —
A lot of people in our area associate the French Broad River with Asheville, NC, but there are many other places to view the river, including outside Greeneville, TN. The Chimney Rocks Trail hike provides beautiful views of the oxbow at Weaver’s Bend on the French Broad River, which cannot be matched locally for its uniqueness. This hike also appears to be a bit off the beaten path, so it’s a great one to get away from the world. There are a couple different trip options, depending on how long you’d like.
Getting There
From I-26
- Take Exit 13 and get onto TN-75 S (towards the Gray Fossil Museum and Jonesborough)
- Drive 11.2 miles and turn left to stay on TN-75S
- Continue for 4.4 miles and turn right on US-11E S / US 321 S
- After 8.3 miles, turn left on TN-107E / Tusculum Bypass
- Drive for 2.7 miles, turn right onto TN-351 S
- Continue on TN-351 S for 11.3 miles then turn left onto TN-107 W / TN-70 S
- After about 0.8 miles, take a slight right onto TN-107 W
- Continue 8.7 miles and turn left onto Brush Creek Road
- Drive 1.8 miles on Bush Creek Rd. Caution: this road quickly turns into a well-maintained one-lane gravel/dirt road, that is very curvy. Take your time, since it’s beautiful woodlands alongside a creek
- Turn left onto Weaver’s Bend Road. You immediately cross a one-lane bridge, which has a gate.
- If the gate is open (during camping season), continue 1.8 miles to the parking area. DO NOT cross the train-tracks, if you have, you’ve gone too far.
- If the gate is not open, as happened on our trip, don’t fret, it just makes your hike a little longer (1 extra mile if doing full loop, 2 extra miles if just doing Chimney Rocks Trail). Simply park alongside the road before crossing the bridge. There’s space for a few cars, and another parking area shortly up the road the way you came in.
The Hike
Our recommendation for the best Chimney Rocks Trail hike experience is to do the entire loop. If you’ve made the journey out this far, it’s worth getting the full effect. The first section of this post will detail our suggested route and the one which we took.
The loop is approximately 6.2 miles if the gate is open. From the parking area, our recommendation would be to hike back up the road that you drove in on, about 1.2 miles. On the right, you’ll find a not incredibly noticeable trail, leading into the woods. Picture below of trailhead marker.
If the road is closed for the off-season, the loop hike will be approximately 7.2 miles. From the gate, cross the bridge and hike down Weaver’s Bend Road. This creates a great warm-up since it’s a flat unpaved road. After about 0.5 mile, you’ll find a not incredibly noticeable trail on your left, leading into the woods. Picture below of trailhead marker.
Whichever way you arrived, you are now on the Paint Mountain Trail. Follow the yellow blazes. You’ll quickly reach a trail split. Continue left to keep working your way up the mountain-side. Now you’ll be glad for the warm-up along the road, as you wind your way up the mountain through many switchbacks. Make sure to take appropriate water breaks to catch your breath. The trail is fairly well maintained and easy to follow, but we found a few spots where trees were down that we had to navigate around that weren’t too challenging. If you go in the Fall like we did, the leaf cover always makes trail navigation a little harder though.
You’ll eventually end the switchbacks and hike along a wooded ridgeline. If you go in the Fall, Winter, or early Spring, you’ll get some peak-a-boo views through the trees.
After about 2.6 miles on the Paint Mountain Trail, you’ll reach another trail intersection. Here, keep right to leave the Paint Mountain trail and begin hiking along the Chimney Rocks Trail. Continue 0.4 miles to reach the wonderful views you’ve worked hard for. Stop here for a much deserved break to refuel. Fortunately, the rest of the loop hike is all downhill, so all the more reason to celebrate.
When you’re ready to make the trek back, take a right at the fork immediately after the viewpoint to continue on Chimney Rocks Trail.
You’ll continue to get a few views of the French Broad oxbow through the trees. After another approx. 1.2 miles, you’ll reach the area known as Chimney Rocks. We expected more, but our assumption is the area is named for the cliffs immediately below the trail, which we are sure are gorgeous from the river below.
Continue 0.3 miles further, and you’ll reach another intersection, which we could not find any markers for. If you’re looking to make your loop hike a tad bit shorter, take a right here. It cuts off about a half mile if you parked at the Brush Creek bridge. It will actually make your hike longer if you parked at the Weaver’s Bend trailhead parking area. We would not recommend the side trail either way, unless you’re short on time or more exhausted than you anticipated. We recommend you continue straight. Again, we encountered a few downed trees across the wide trail, but easy to route around/over. After another 0.5 mile, you’ll reach a beautiful meadow with surrounding mountains rising above.
Take some time to enjoy this section, and then make your way back to the trailhead parking area. If you weren’t lucky enough to park at the trailhead, as was our case, you’ve got another approx. 1.8 mile walk back to the bridge. Fortunately, the river runs next to the road, and some beautiful rock cliffs on your other side, making it a rather pretty cool down stroll.
Alternate Shorter Hike Option
If you choose to just do the Chimney Rocks Trail hike from the Weaver’s Bend parking area, the hike ends up being about 4.4 miles out-and-back. If you’re not up for a longer hike, this is a great option to get the experience with a little less work. For this route, you start on the trail next to the railroad track and hike through the meadow, making your way up to the overlook. You could continue a little past to finish the full Chimney Rocks Trail, but personally we don’t see the value if you’re just doing the out-and-back hike since your best views are in the opening. This would make your hike really more like 4.0 miles.
