The First Official Earthcache of The Great Smoky Mountain National Park
Chimney Tops
Chimney Tops are located in the Great Smoky Mountains. To be exact Chimney Tops reside on the eastern face of Sugarland Mountain.
Chimney Tops are at an altitude of 4800 ft and are surrounded about by Mount Leconte and Mt Mingus.
It was during the Appalachian Orogeny (the collosion of African and North American Plates) that the metamorphic rock of Chimney Tops were formed.
A rare fact of about Chimney Tops is that is one of the few areas in the entire Smoky Mountains that it's summit is bare rock.
The rock of Chimney Tops is known as Anakeesta Rock which bares its name from Anakeesta Formation from its locality of the rock on the Anakeesta Ridge in the park.
The rock itself is made up of slates, schists and phyllites.
The rock is softer than sandstone allowing rain, hail and ice over the course of hundreds of millions of years, fashion it's chimney shaped likeness.
Please answer the following questions below.
Please email me your answers.
Please do not post answers in your log.
Any logs posted as "Found It" without an email sent with the sight specific information will be deleted.
Enjoy this beautiful sight.
1. According to the information board at the posted coordinates. "How Old Are Chimney Tops"
2. Name the older rock which Chimney Tops sit upon?
3. Why are they called Chimney Tops?
4. What name did the Cherokee Indians give Chimney Tops?
5. From your vantage point, can you identify the folded capstones of Chimney Tops?
6. From your viewpoint and recently gained knowledge of the site, Give your opinion as to why Chimney Tops are bare at the summit?
7. Optional: Post a picture of yourself with Chimney Tops as your background, with or without gps.
A Special Thanks to the following:
A huge thanks to Dana Soehn & Brent Everitt from The Great Smoky Mountain National Park for all of the correspondance and work on your end to make Earthcaching possible in The Great Smoky Mountains.
Thanks to geoawareUSA7 & geoaware for the continual feedback and correspondance with The Great Smoky Mountain National Parks & myself to make Earthcaching possible here.