Cliffside Trail

File:* Trail Name Cliffside Trail Nearest City Kingsport State Tennessee Trail Marking {{{Marking}}} Trail Use/Features Difficulty Rating Medium Hiking Time 0.50.5 Hours <br />0.0313 Days <br />30 Min <br /> Distance, round-trip 0.50.5 mi <br />0.805 km <br /> Climb/Descent Elevation 345345 Feet <br />105.156 Meters <br /> / {{{Elevation Loss}}}"{{{Elevation Loss}}}" is not a number. High Point 21722,172 Feet <br />724 Yards <br />662.026 Meters <br /> 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":36.50821124879055190604049130342900753021240234375,"lon":-82.610827510723453315222286619246006011962890625,"icon":""}]} Show Large Map

Trail Overview

Located in Bays Mountain Park. Up and along the ridgeline to a lookout tower.

How to get there

From the main parking lot, head over to the observatory. The unmarked trail heads uphill from here. Alternatively, head up Bays Mountain Road to observation tower and take the trail back down.

Route Description

Short steep hike along the ridgeline with couple of lookout points and up to the observation tower.

Miles	Cliffside Trail	Miles
0.0	Trailhead at Astronomical Observatory (by "Sun" on solar model"). Also first overlook nearby.	0.5
0.1	Overlook near gate on Bays Mountain Road	0.4
0.2	Trail split. Up stairs is older route. Ahead is newer sidetrail alternative shown on park map.	0.3
0.4	Trail split on ridgeline. Down is newer sidetrail alternative shown on park map, while follow ridge to older route.	0.1
0.5	Observation Tower/Junction with Bays Mountain Road	0.0

Typical Conditions

The older trail route is very worn and washed out on steep ascent with stone steps built long ago. Pine needle covered path once up on ridgeline. Alternate route is newer sidehill trail in excellent condition.

Regulations

NO BIKES!

Misc. Information

Selective removal of some trees around the lookout tower would greatly improve viewing year around.

Maps

<googlemap version="0.9" lat="36.50818" lon="-82.61083" type="terrain" zoom="15" width="775" scale="yes" icons="http://tehcc.org/clubwiki/kml/marker{label}.png"> http://tehcc.org/clubwiki/kml/BMP_Cliffside_Trail.kml http://tehcc.org/clubwiki/kml/BMP_bays_mountain_road.kml

(G) 36.50816,-82.61087 Trailhead near observatory at "Sun" (G) 36.50856,-82.60453 Trailhead at Bays Mountain Road (G) 36.50657,-82.60898 Trail splits for old steps and alternative route (E) 36.50845,-82.60445 Observation tower (E) 36.50788,-82.61073 View from lower overlook by observatory (E) 36.50673,-82.60985 View from higher overlook along trail </googlemap>

The following elevation profile travels from by the observatory up the main trail on the stairs and back down the alternate path.

Photos

• 

  Older steps up Cliffside Trail

• 

  View from higher overlook along trail

• 

  View from observation tower towards firetower

• 

  View from obs tower towards valley