(Orange Trail to Chimney Rock Gallery Has Five Pictures)	Go to Top

This is the Orange Trail going east of the Visitor's Center. Note that the Orange Trail is marked with what looks like red blazes. Also note that the White Trail is co-located with the Orange Trail here. The White Trail provides trail access to the park from Thurmont, which is to the east. Finally, take note that until recently, there were no color blazes marking trails, just periodic signs, so it could be easy to get lost, especially in the winter.

One summer, I noticed these bright orange shelf fungi growing on a tree just off the trail. They are Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus), and are supposed to be edible, but I still prefer to get my fungus from the store.

After a point, the trail starts to angle up dramatically, to rise up the mountain to get to Chimney Rock. In the winter all the sites look so different.

Near the top of the mountain, the Orange Trail is mostly fairly flat. until just arriving a Chimney Rock, where it abruptly rises. As noted above, the trail looks very different covered with snow.

Here I was looking up the trail and down the trail, while going up the hill within a couple of hundred yards of Chimney Rock. The birds were being quite chirpy.