We are continuing Day 2 of our boys trip to Look Rock Tower in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Paul, Drew, Matt and Uncle Mike just hiked to Abrams Falls in the Cades Cove area. To read more about it, check out our separate post: Abrams Falls and Cades Cove in GSMNP. And now we are driving to Look Rock Tower in the Foothills Parkway.
When Paul first saw Look Rock Tower, he immediately wanted to find out more about it. So yesterday, we talked with a park ranger at the Sugarlands Visitor Center. And he showed us the webcam they have at Look Rock Tower, which was very cloudy yesterday. Check out their webcam here before you visit: Webcam Home – (nps.gov). Yesterday wouldn’t have been a good day to check it out, but today has been sunny and clear. We’re just leaving the Cades Cove Loop around 4:00PM, and right now is the best time for us to go. Not to mention we still have a few hours of light.
The Foothills Parkway
Look Rock Tower is located off the Foothills Parkway, on the other side of the mountains from Cades Cove. The Foothills Parkway is a less-traveled road outside the park in the Tennessee foothills over an hour away. The entire parkway is administered by the national park, even though it is outside the park. However, only 3 of the 8 sections of the parkway have been completed. We’ll be driving on the 2 sections on the West to get to Look Rock Tower. There is also a 6-mile section on the East from Cosby to I-40, but the sections are not connected. Though construction started in the 60’s, the middle is on-hold indefinitely, making this the oldest unfinished highway project in Tennessee!
There are many overlooks along the way and we briefly stop at a couple. We just pull over and catch some views from the car on the way. On our right are views of the valley including the town of Maryville. On the left are views of the Smoky Mountains. Both sides offer some nice views not found inside the park. This parkway is so less crowded than in the park and we feel we almost have it to ourselves. We make it to the sign that marks the start of the older Western section. But it’s still about 15 minutes to Look Rock.
Look Rock Overlook
We find the large parking lot on our left with only a few cars and plenty of open spots. So we drive to the other end looking for the start of the trail. What we find is the Look Rock Overlook which has concrete steps leading to it. From this overlook we get some nice views of Happy Valley and the southern Smokies.
This is a high point on the Foothills Parkway, but we want to go higher to the tower. After a few pictures, we look for the tower trail, but don’t see anything nearby. So, we start to walk back and notice people in the woods, but no trail markers. After walking all the way to the other end of the parking lot, we finally find the trail sign. And the trail to Look Rock Tower starts on the other side of the road.
Look Rock Tower Trail
Even though there are few cars on this parkway, we quickly cross the road to the start of the trail. Once across, the trail is paved and easy to navigate. The sign says it’s a half mile round trip, but that doesn’t include the ramp up and down the tower. Though the trail is paved, walking up to the tower seems steep in places. The trail goes right through the woods to an access road. From here we see a sign telling us to go left to the tower.
The access road is wider and easier to walk on then the trail below. And not far after the turn we see 2 buildings behind chain-link fences on our right. This is the Look Rock Air Quality Monitoring Station which collects information for the park service.
And not much past it, we can start to see the tower through the trees. The large structure is easily visible today, but in the summer you probably wouldn’t see it until up-close. It has only taken us about 10 minutes from the trail sign to get to the base of the tower. And at the base is a large rock where Matt decides to stay. After hiking all day our feet have been hurting, and looking at the ramp we understand. But Paul blazes ahead up the ramp.
Look Rock Tower
Look Rock Tower is a concrete observation tower that provides 360 degree views of the surrounding area. But once you get to the tower, you still have to take the ramps up to it. There are 3 total but it’s an easy walk to the viewing platform.
You can’t go to the top of the tower, because the spiral staircase is locked. Apparently the park service stores meteorological equipment here which makes sense they monitor air quality nearby. However, the views from the platform are amazing.
Today is clear and sunny, and apparently you can see up to 40-50 miles from here. And the trees being bare from the winter provide even better visibility. We couldn’t have picked a better day to be here.
On the right we can see the Tennessee Valley including Maryville and even Knoxville in the distance. And the other side we see the mountains clearly visible. There is a sign that shows all the peaks you can see including Clingman’s Dome, the highest in the park. And the Sun is getting really low in the sky providing a beautiful backdrop to end our day.
With the Sun blazing, we take some parting glances at the tower and the beauty around it. At the base of the tower, we get Matt and head back down the trail to the road.
On the Way Back
As if that wasn’t good enough… On the way driving back to the resort after it got dark, we spotted an animal in the road. It looked at us then ran to our right before darting back in front of us to the other side. Of course, it was very fast, but we believe it was either a gray fox or a coyote. The consensus was gray fox, and all we know was, it was beautiful and we’re glad we saw it.
Summary
We drove from Cades Cove to the Foothills Parkway West driving past many overlooks. After stopping at a few, we made it to the parking lot and Look Rock Overlook. However, the trail started on the other side of the parking lot and across the street. Once we crossed the street, we ascended the paved trail to an access road. We turned left at the access road passing an air quality monitoring station before reaching the base of the tower. After walking up the ramps to the observation platform, we were blessed with clear views for miles.
The highlight was the views we saw from Look Rock Tower. And the Look Rock Tower Trail is one of the shortest hikes in the park. And what’s amazing is not many people visit here compared to other areas of the park. To us, Look Rock Tower was the icing on the cake today and we’re so happy we made the drive here.