View Full Version : Pinnacle Mt Trail to firetower - Erwin/Unicoi
Here's one... I've tried to get up to the firetower via the Pinnacle Mt. Trail on Pinnacle Mt in Unicoi and get winded and have to turn around before I get halfway up.
Does anyone know if there's a road up there so I could get dropped off and walk down the mountain? My Nat Geo Southern Apps program has the firetower but the trail and no roads are marked on the map nor is it on the Nat Geo paper map for CNF...
The Cleaner
11-03-2011, 18:36
I'm sure there's a road because they just finished rehabing the tower and had to get materials up there.Channel 11 did a story last week about it.Try contacting the Unicoi Town office for more info....
Found it - you get up from the other side of the mountain off Dry Creek Rd.
BTW, I was over near Rocky Fork today. I tried to get up the Green Ridge Trail from the bottom and had planned on going all the way up to the AT intersection.
Of course, after about an hour I had to give it up. Anemia sucks SO bad.
The Cleaner
11-03-2011, 18:54
Found it - you get up from the other side of the mountain off Dry Creek Rd.
BTW, I was over near Rocky Fork today. I tried to get up the Green Ridge Trail from the bottom and had planned on going all the way up to the AT intersection.
Of course, after about an hour I had to give it up. Anemia sucks SO bad. Hate to hear about the health problems,But I'll give you an "A+" for trying and not giving up.You had the right idea of driving up to mountiantops and hiking down till you get to feeling 100% again.....
You're right about the road coming up from Dry Creek. It's well marked on the Trails Illustrated/Nat. Geo. map. You can drive all the way to the tower, and all but the last half mile (post gate) is passable by two-wheel drive car. In order to get all the way up you have to get out, open the gate, and close it behind you. I haven't done this, because I'm skittish about that kind of thing, but I've seen it done there. I mention this because hiking up the last half mile is harder than the other 4 miles. If the gate is locked, or if you'd prefer not to, then take the walking trail instead of the road. It's much much more of a gradual incline. It's marked by nearly-neon blazes (as you've seen on the portion you did), so you'll easily see it when you park in the turn around just below the gated final portion of the road.
I'm almost halfway done - 13 weeks to go. I should be back in hiking shape in mid-winter, which is my favorite time to be out. :)
Ok, so today the wife and I parked at the trailhead to the Pinnacle Mt. Trail off exit 32 on I-26 and hiked the 4.5 mile trail to the firetower.
May I just say that this is one of the best short trails I've ever hiked. The grade is so gentle I didn't get winded but a few times all the way to the top. About a mile from the firetower you cross the the Buffalo Mt. ATV trail and the road that drives up to the tower.
The tower had been recently renovated and the views from the 40' tower are 360* and absolutely amazing. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and you could see forever - I'm almost certain I identified Mt. Rogers, Bay Mountain, and Mt. Mitchell.
This would be a great hike for children or an elderly person in decent shape. In fact, out of the 15 or so people we passed I'd say 10 of them were over 65.....
Take water, there's only one source and it's near the bottom of the mountain so I don't know if I'd trust it. The tower is a great place to break for lunch.
I used that water source about 1 1/2 months ago. Everything came out good.
I wish they would have made a better staircase up to the top. The older I get the more nervous I am go up heights like that. I guess rock climbing is out for me... And it was only about 8 years ago when I scaled that firetower to get up to the top.
I found my first arrowhead 1/2 way up that trail. It was right in the middle of the trail. The solid black caught my eye, and there it was ..