Chimney Tops must be introduced honestly: the summit pinnacles have been closed since the November 2016 wildfire — the fire that began at this summit and, driven by extreme wind, burned into Gatlinburg — and they remain closed in the newest film on this page, a 2026 hike 'to the gate.' The trail itself reopened (2017, with a park-association film on the reopening's measures), rebuilt to a viewpoint just below the scarred pinnacles, and it remains one of the park's steepest, most rewarding short climbs. This page carries the full arc: the reopening, a 2020 film on why the pinnacles stay closed, the 2026 hike to the gate — and, labeled for exactly what it is, one pre-fire summit scramble from October 2016, a month before the fire, kept as the historical record of the true summit scramble that no visitor can legally do today.

Watch: first looks

3 videos · summaries from the actual guides

Chimney Tops: A Mile of Stairs in the Smoky Moutains

Bear Facts of the Smoky Mountains

Bear Facts and History's 2023 explainer on why Chimney Tops is one of the Smokies' most popular - and most misunderstood - trails: the steep 3.5-mile climb, the twin rock pinnacles, and what the 2016 wildfire changed at the top. The page's best orientation film.

Key takeaways
  • Chimney Tops climbs ~1,400 feet in under 2 miles - steep by Smokies standards
  • The 2016 wildfire started near the summit and closed the pinnacles
  • The rebuilt trail ends at a viewing platform below the top

Chimney Tops Trail | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | Best Hikes in the Smokies

Bushes On The Trail

Bushes On The Trail's 2021 Chimney Tops hike up the Road Prong valley: the creek bridges, the relentless grade and the rebuilt viewing platform below the fire-closed pinnacles, filmed as a complete trail record.

Key takeaways
  • The trail follows Road Prong creek with bridge crossings low down
  • The upper climb is one of the steepest maintained grades in the park
  • The platform view takes in the pinnacles and the Sugarland valley

Day Hike: Chimney Tops Trail in The Great Smoky Mountains

Marked Miles

Marked Miles' 2020 Chimney Tops hike, climbing the wildfire-recovered trail to the platform - his camera lingers on the sign at the top: the summit pinnacles themselves are closed to access after the 2016 fire. The page's clearest statement of the trail's current reality.

Key takeaways
  • The no-access sign at the top is the closure, photographed
  • Hikers may not scramble the fire-damaged pinnacles
  • The platform is the legal summit experience today

The current hike

Short (under two miles up) and relentlessly steep, crossing Road Prong's bridges, climbing through the burn zone's vigorous regrowth to the viewpoint: the pinnacles ahead, closed, the fire's origin point visible. The 2021 rangers' film adds the resource story — what the burn did to the summit ecology and why the closure is indefinite.

Before

The pre-fire film is a different mountain: bare-rock scrambling on the twin rocky caps, exposure on both sides, one of the East's great summit scrambles. It is here as record and as context for the closure — not as a route guide. The scarred-rock geology film explains what fire does to this sandstone.

Watch: more views

3 videos · summaries from the actual guides

This Smoky Mountain Hike Is Short… But Brutal (Chimney Tops Trail)

Johnny on the Trail

Johnny on the Trail's 2026 climb 'to the gate': Chimney Tops as it hikes now - up the steep trail to the viewing platform where the gate bars the fire-damaged summit scramble, with the views that remain. Dated, current evidence of the closure.

Key takeaways
  • 'To the gate' is the honest modern description of this hike
  • The 2026 film dates the closure's continuance
  • The platform panorama remains one of the park's best short-hike views

Hiking the Best Short Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Chimney Tops Trail

Oklahomo Hiker

Oklahomo Hiker's 2024 Chimney Tops hike: he reads the trailhead sign aloud - the final climb to the summit is still closed after the 2016 fire - then walks the cascades of the first mile and the steep second half to the vista below the pinnacles. A short, dense, honest record (151 words of narration).

Key takeaways
  • The trailhead sign itself warns the summit climb is closed
  • Cascades fill the first mile - the warm-up is beautiful
  • Borderline keeper: 151 words of dense, factual narration

CHIMNEY TOPS Trail in the GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS! 💦

Smoky Mountain World

Smoky Mountain World's 2024 Chimney Tops summit-trail climb - the hike up Road Prong to the platform and the panorama over the Sugarland Mountain valley, filmed as a first-person trail record.

Key takeaways
  • Road Prong's cascades make the climb's first half
  • The platform frames the twin pinnacles dead ahead
  • Filmed 2024 - the trail's settled post-fire form

The weight of the place

Fourteen people died in the 2016 fire disaster in the surrounding communities. The films on this page treat Chimney Tops as what it is: a beautiful, steep hike to a viewpoint, at a summit that is also a memorial landscape. Hike it with that understanding.

Sources: the 9 videos on this page, filmed on the Chimney Tops Trail, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 2016–2026.

Watch: the full set

3 videos · summaries from the actual guides

What to Expect on the Chimney Tops Trail, Great Smoky Mountains

Smokies Life

Smokies Life's 2017 film 'Chimney Tops Trail - What to Expect Since it Reopened': the park association's own account of the trail's post-fire reopening with its new viewing platform - the primary source for what changed after November 2016, dated as filmed.

Key takeaways
  • The trail reopened in 2017 with the new viewing platform
  • The park association's own post-fire account, filmed that year
  • The platform replaced the summit scramble permanently

Our LAST hike in the Smokies! Laurel Falls & Chimney Tops Trail (Ep. 7)

PS Adventures

PS Adventures' 2021 combo climbing the Smokies' two great short-summit hikes in one trip: Laurel Falls (whose page sits in the Sugarlands set) and then Chimney Tops, up the creek valley to the platform below the closed pinnacles.

Key takeaways
  • Laurel Falls and Chimney Tops pair as the classic two-hike day
  • Both trails leave from the Sugarlands/Newfound Gap corridor
  • The Chimney Tops half shows the platform-era summit

Hiking Chimney Tops Trail - Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Bryce Newbold

Bryce Newbold's October 2016 Chimney Tops film - shot weeks BEFORE the November 2016 wildfire, it shows the old summit scramble up the bare pinnacles that no hiker can legally do today. It loads as the pre-fire record, dated plainly: the summit in this film is closed now.

Key takeaways
  • Filmed October 2016 - weeks before the wildfire
  • The old summit scramble up bare rock is shown in full
  • That climb is closed today; the film is its record

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