GSMNP-the Chimneys our second visit

January 2009 on what I think was our 3rd date or so we went to Gatlinburg the weekend before my birthday and hiked the Chimneys, it was icy and we didn't attempt the rock scramble at the end, but yesterday (Aug 28) the weather was inviting and so we drove up the 3 hours or so drive to do the hike. While it is only 2 miles to the end where the Chimneys formation is, it is a rough, steep and scenic 2 miles with several bridge crossings of rushing mountain streams. We start with a couple of photos of us at the beginning of the trail on one of the bridges. Archie really enjoys cheesy photos so I oblige and take them. The one where he is kneeling is a little joke we have about "go on save yourself its too late for me" when we are on some really long taxing hike. The next photo here is looking DOWN from halfway up the rock scramble to get to the summit. You can get about halfway up and then there is a point where climbing up exposes you to a fall in either direction of several hundred feet. Now there are foot and handholds but we had to stop there a few minutes, have lunch and watch some younger folks navigate the problem before we felt like attempting it. We also had a spectacular view so took a photo of that too, had to be kind of careful though because the ridge is so narrow and you are so high up that I didn't want to look around too much and get freaked out. Other than banging up my left knee, we ascended to the top from that point with no problems then a nice young man at the top took photos of us sitting on the summit and I took one of Archie's traditional Superman pose ( I declined to pose as Wonderwoman standing up there) and I began to worry about getting down this wicked series of slanted tilted rock steps that are about 60 degrees tilted so I found another way down ( near the old path up on the right side) and climbed down. DON'T is all I can say, while we made it unscathed except some elbow banging the last photo here that looks steep is looking straight up from the bottom of how we climbed down. At one point over halfway down this climb I swear I wanted to have a meltdown but I talked myself out of it because there was nobody gonna rescue me but me at that point. It was a great adventure but I won't do that again. It did give me more confidence that I'll attempt the last section of Angels Landing when we are in Zion National Park on vacation in September.