A beautiful Sunday afternoon hiking Chimney Bluffs was a usually lazy Sunday well spent. Chimney Bluffs was on our “travel goal list” that we created in the beginning of this year during our Storm Stella snowed-in-day – read post here.
It was an easy hour drive for us to the state park. FYI – if you park at the main entrance you must pay a $5 parking fee during the busy season. Before we chose which direction to hike, we studied a map located at the entrance showing the different hiking trails and how many miles each trail was.
We decided to hike the whole loop starting at Garner Point Trail to follow the Bluff Trail along the edge of the lake’s coast. The Bluff trail gives you incredible views of the bluffs and allows you to walk up above them. You may also choose to walk along the coast line down by the water to see the bluffs from below as we saw some people doing although it is not recommended.
Once we approached the end of the Bluff Trail, we turned onto Drumlin Trail. Drumlin Trail takes you through the woods (and mud). We were actually the only people around – no one else in sight – which made it seem as though we were lost. Thankfully when we got to an intersection, we noticed a small sign (facing the wrong direction) showing we had made it to the East-West Trail. We turned onto the East-West Trail and eventually to our delight we made it back to the parking lot.
Our Old English Bulldog Nova came along with us. She loves to hike and explore. Although, I think she was happy for the hike to be over as she was exhausted!
After our long hike, we stopped at Orbakers along the way for some food and ice cream. We had Buffalo Chicken Burgers (so messy, but so good!) and some ice cream. Even Nova had a doggie sundae. P.S. – Their pistachio ice cream was amazing!!!
Thank you for reading!