Fire Tower Trail

Trail Name Fire Tower Trail Park Bays Mountain Park Nearest City Kingsport State Tennessee Trail Marking Signs Trail Use/Features Difficulty Rating Medium Hiking Time 30 Min0.5 Hours <br />0.0313 Days <br /> Distance: round-trip/trail only 4.2 Mi6.759 km <br /> / 0.7 Mi1.127 km <br /> Trail Type Segment Climb/Descent Elevation / High Point Parking 36° 30' 31.76" N, 82° 36' 34.36" W Nearest Medical Kingsport, TN Trip Reports Click Here Loading map... {"type":"ROADMAP","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"270px","height":"180px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"visitedicon":"","wmsoverlay":false,"zoom":8,"layers":[],"controls":["zoom"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"cluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":36.5088209999999975252649164758622646331787109375,"lon":-82.609544999999997116901795379817485809326171875,"icon":""}]} Show Large Map

Trail Overview

Located in Bays Mountain Park. Second most popular trail (after Lakeside Trail) up to the Garden Mountain/Kingsport firetower for view across Holston Defense, west end of Kingsport, and into Virginia.

How to get there

Take Lakeside Trail clockwise around the reservoir to the Hemlock Trail or Lake Road counterclockwise. The lower trailhead in on Lake Road.

Alternatively, the upper trailhead at the firetower is reached on River Mountain Road from either the antennas or Fegins Gap.

Route Description

The trail heads up Holston River Mountain side of the park to reach the firetower. Although no blazes, the path is well worn, thus apparent.

This trail has connections to River Mountain Road, Chinquapin Trail, and Lake Road

Miles Up	Fire Tower Trail	Miles Down	Elevation (ft)
0.0	Trailhead at Lake Road	0.7	1894
0.1	Junction with Chinquapin Trail	0.6
0.7	Trailhead at River Mountain Road at firetower	0.0	2382

For those starting from the parking lot, it is roughly 2 miles taking 60 minutes to reach firetower. Return trip down is faster.

Typical Conditions

Well worn dirt trail with few blowdowns. Please do not cut through the switchbacks.

Regulations

NO BIKES!

Misc. Information

The 60' firetower was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1937.

Maps

The Fire Tower Trail is shown in red. For reference, River Mountain Road is shown in magenta, Lake Road in orange, and Lakeside Trail in yellow.

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Photos

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  Fire tower