On a beautiful warmish day of our trip, we headed to Chimney Rock Park, ranked by USA Today Travel as one of the 10 Best High Places in the World… obviously, we wanted to check it out! We parked for free near the Rocky Broad Riverwalk entrance, where there are plenty of cute little souvenir shops and restaurants, and headed down to the water before heading on to the park. The water was a main attraction for the boys; Andrew and Milo rock-hopped for a long time and there was much pouting when we moved on from that activity! 
I stayed close to Emil and Oliver, who just couldn’t keep up! But they really enjoyed the river and the many climbing spots.
Next, we headed back to the car to drive the rest of the way up to Chimney Rock Park. There is an admission fee, but it wasn’t too pricey, and it was really worth it once we got up there. We passed a beautiful field and picnic area on the way, which had a huge rock climbing wall (it was closed when we visited, but looked like a lot of fun) and an indoor nature center for the kids.
Once we reached the highest lot, we parked and split up. Andrew and Milo climbed the stairs while I took Emil and Oliver up through the elevator, manned by a friendly staff member. The elevator ride was short, but if you go on a day with big crowds, you could end up waiting for the elevator for quite a while. Plan accordingly!
Once we reached the top, we met Andrew and Milo on top of the Chimney, which is technically a 250-foot monolith and is luckily fenced in, as the point is at an elevation of 2,280 feet and the wind gusts up there can be a bit scary (I had a nightmare that night of Emil being swept off a cliff after one of those wind gusts)!
It was a beautiful view — they estimate you can see for 75 miles on a clear day. Hand-holding recommended…
Seriously!
We took the stairs back down, and it was beautiful.
Once we were back to the car, we decided to picnic and play in that field. It was another great view from there.
And three very tuckered out boys played in the field before we headed back for the day. Such a great place to visit, I highly recommend it — especially if you’re in the business of wearing out kids!
You are killing me with all these fantastic Asheville posts! Western NC is definitely my heart’s home; growing up in Raleigh, I spent a lot of summers backpacking in the Blue Ridge and visiting family who live in the area (not too far from Chimney Rock, in fact!). I can’t think of a more beautiful place anywhere. So glad you guys had such a great visit!