Fire Tower Trail
|
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 reservior 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.
Miles Up | Firetower Trail | Miles Down |
---|---|---|
0.0 | Trailhead at Lake Road | 0.7 |
0.1 | Junction with Chinquapin Trail | 0.6 |
0.7 | Trailhead at River Mountain Road at firetower | 0.0 |
For those starting from the BMP 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 Firetower Trail is shown in red. For reference, River Mountain Road is shown in magenta and Lake Road in orange.
<googlemap version="0.9" lat="36.51545" lon="-82.62378" type="terrain" zoom="15" width="700" scale="yes" icons="http://tehcc.org/clubwiki/kml/marker{label}.png"> http://tehcc.org/clubwiki/kml/BMP_Firetower_Trail.kml http://tehcc.org/clubwiki/kml/BMP_river_mountain_road.kml (G) 36.51, -82.62378,Firetower Trail (E) 36.51545, -82.62378 Garden Mountain/Kingsport Lookout Tower </googlemap>
Photos
- Placeholder.gif