• Distance: 5 miles one-way
• Duration: 3–5 hours one-way
• Elevation gain: 540 feet
• Effort: moderate–strenuous
• Trailhead: across Highway 24 from Chimney Rock parking lot

This moderately difficult hike begins by following a wash across the highway from the Chimney Rock parking area, descending to Sulphur Creek, then heads down the narrow canyon to the visitors center. The trip is about five miles long (one-way) and takes 3–5 hours. Park rangers sometimes schedule guided hikes on this route.

Warm weather is the best time because you’ll be wading in the normally shallow creek. Three small waterfalls can be bypassed fairly easily; two falls are just below the goosenecks, and the third is about one-half mile before coming out at the visitors center. Carry water with you.

The creek’s name may be a mistake because there’s no sulphur along it; perhaps outcrops of yellow limonite caused the confusion. You can make an all-day eight-mile hike in Sulphur Creek by starting where it crosses the highway between mileposts 72 and 73, five miles west of the visitors center.