Devil's Chimney (Sruth in Aghaidh An Aird)

Sligo / Glencar Lough, County Sligo, Ireland

About Devil’s Chimney (Sruth in Aghaidh An Aird)


Hiking Distance: about 2.5km round-trip
Suggested Time: about 1 hour

Date first visited: 2024-07-14
Date last visited: 2024-07-14

Waterfall Latitude: 54.3485
Waterfall Longitude: -8.39307

Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

Devil’s Chimney (Sruth in Aghaidh an Aird in Irish Gaelic meaning “Stream Against the Height”) is proclaimed to be the tallest waterfall in Ireland at 150m (or 492ft).

Its name may have something to do with the waterfall prone to being blown backwards by winds that may come through the valley.

Devils_Chimney_050_07142024 - The Devil's Chimney Waterfall
The Devil’s Chimney Waterfall

That said, it did not flow very well during my mid-July 2024 visit so I’d imagine its fickle flow would be due its drainage in the Darty Mountain plateau not likely to be substantial enough for sustained flow.

Indeed, despite a late afternoon rain that came and went during my visit, it seemed like it definitely needs a combination of some heavy rain and timing your visit to see it properly.

Since this waterfall can be seen from its trailhead near the northern shore of Glencar Lough, you can see whether it’s worth going up the trail to get closer to the base of the Devil’s Chimney.

In my visit, even though the waterfall wasn’t flowing very well, I went ahead and did the 2.5km round-trip uphill hike (gaining up to 120m in elevation) anyways.

Devils_Chimney_004_07142024 - Context of the trail skirting by some private property with the Devil's Chimney waterfall in the background
Context of the trail skirting by some private property with the Devil’s Chimney waterfall in the background

From the trailhead (see directions below), I walked up a trail that pretty much paralleled someone’s driveway.

The trail then veered to the left a bit as it then ascended into a forested area sandwiched between two plots of private land.

The path then reached a trail fork (roughly 800m from the trailhead) that marked the beginning or end of a short loop, where I opted to keep right to do this loop in a counterclockwise manner.

After about 160m from the start of the loop part, there was another trail fork, where the right branch ascended up a brief spur leading to an overlook with an elevated yet closer look at the Devil’s Chimney.

Devils_Chimney_040_07142024 - Context of the Devil's Chimney and the trail leading closer to its bottom as seen from an elevated lookout off a spur detour from the looping part of the hike
Context of the Devil’s Chimney and the trail leading closer to its bottom as seen from an elevated lookout off a spur detour from the looping part of the hike

Continuing along the trail, it eventually reached a fenced trail junction (the other end of the loop), and then continued just a few metres more before reaching a dead-end with a look up at the Devil’s Chimney Waterfall.

Regarding my visit, I noticed that the waterfall definitely had noticeable flow from this close to it, but from the trailhead, it was hard to tell that the Devil’s Chimney was flowing at all!

After having my fill of this spot (and waiting out a burst of late afternoon rain), I then continued the counterclockwise loop hike.

Along the way in this second half of the loop, I briefly explored a spur trail leading to an alternate look at the Devil’s Chimney.

Devils_Chimney_007_iPhone_07142024 - View of the Glencar Lough from a benched lookout on the latter half of the counterclockwise loop before the Devil's Chimney
View of the Glencar Lough from a benched lookout on the latter half of the counterclockwise loop before the Devil’s Chimney

Meanwhile, the continuation of the loop trail went by another lookout with a bench of the Glencar Lough before the trail finally descended steps back down to the first trail junction.

From there, I kept right, and followed the trail back the way I came to the trailhead.

Overall, this excursion took me about an hour away from the car.

Authorities

The Devil’s Chimney is in County Sligo straggling its border with County Leitrim near the city of Sligo, Ireland. It is not clear if there’s an official governing body that presides over this waterfall. However, it seems like local landowners and Sligo County Council may have been responsible for signs and road/trail infrastructure. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the Sligo County Council website.

Devils_Chimney_003_07142024 - Starting on the trail leading up to the Devil's Chimney, where this path skirted a pasture on one side and a driveway on the other side
Devils_Chimney_009_07142024 - Looking back towards the Glencar Lough from the trail up to the Devil's Chimney
Devils_Chimney_022_07142024 - Checking out some donkeys grazing in an open pasture while the trail to the Devil's Chimney skirted this open pasture
Devils_Chimney_025_07142024 - More contextual look at a grazing donkey with the Devil's Chimney Trail skirting the open pasture while tree and shrub cover was on the other side of it
Devils_Chimney_027_07142024 - Now within the tree cover section of the Devil's Chimney hike
Devils_Chimney_033_07142024 - Continuing to follow the Devil's Chimney Trail while being surrounded by a small grove of forest as this was sandwiched between two private pastures
Devils_Chimney_035_07142024 - The Devil's Chimney Trail involved quite a bit of uphill hiking, including this stretch that involved steps
Devils_Chimney_037_07142024 - Sign at one of the signed trail junctions within the loop part of the Devil's Chimney Trail
Devils_Chimney_038_07142024 - Trail fork where the hill on the right allowed for an elevated view of the Devil's Chimney Waterfall while the path on the left continued towards the waterfall's base
Devils_Chimney_039_07142024 - This was the view of the Devil's Chimney Waterfall from that hilltop lookout
Devils_Chimney_044_07142024 - A more zoomed in look at the Devil's Chimney Waterfall from that hilltop lookout
Devils_Chimney_046_07142024 - Going on the final stretch towards the bottom of the Devil's Chimney Waterfall
Devils_Chimney_047_07142024 - This was a signed trail junction at the far end of the loop part of the hike to Devil's Chimney
Devils_Chimney_048_07142024 - Going up towards the dead-end right beneath the Devil's Chimney Waterfall
Devils_Chimney_062_07142024 - Approaching the lookout at the dead-end at the far end of the Devil's Chimney hike
Devils_Chimney_056_07142024 - Portrait look up at the Devil's Chimney Waterfall showing that there might have been more to the trail than the lookout at the dead-end that I stopped for
Devils_Chimney_054_07142024 - Zoomed in look at the Devil's Chimney showing that there was definitely some flow contrary to how it looked from the trailhead
Devils_Chimney_076_07142024 - This is the lookout with a bench at the latter part of the loop portion of the Devil's Chimney hike. The lake below is the Glencar Lough, and I happened to show up when it was still raining
Devils_Chimney_084_07142024 - Cleaner look at the Glencar Lough from the benched lookout in the latter portion of the counterclockwise loop around the Devil's Chimney
Devils_Chimney_085_07142024 - Continuing along the Devil's Chimney loop portion of the trail, where the path continued to climb briefly in another detour leading to an alternate lookout
Devils_Chimney_088_07142024 - This was the alternate view of the Devil's Chimney in the latter part of the loop portion of the hike
Devils_Chimney_096_07142024 - Descending one of the switchbacks as I was completing the loop portion of the Devil's Chimney hike
Devils_Chimney_098_07142024 - Descending towards the initial trail junction where the loop started and now ended on the way back to the trailhead for the Devil's Chimney
Devils_Chimney_104_07142024 - Back at the fringes of the open pasture, but this time with the rain, there was no livestock grazing by the Devil's Chimney Trail
Devils_Chimney_109_07142024 - Getting further down the hill among the private farms and closer to the Glencar Lough on the return hike from the Devil's Chimney
Devils_Chimney_115_07142024 - The last turn on the way back to the trailhead of the Devil's Chimney during the return hike
Devils_Chimney_124_07142024 - Making it back down to the road between the Devil's Chimney hike and the Glencar Lough
Devils_Chimney_125_07142024 - Last look at the Devil's Chimney Waterfall before returning to the car


The Devil’s Chimney (Sruth in Aghaidh an Aird) is located near the city of Sligo.

That said, the waterfall straddles the Sligo side of the county border between Sligo and Leitrim.

Drive_to_Devils_Chimney_037_MingSung_07142024 - Descending the access road to both the Devil's Chimney as well as the Glencar Waterfall on the north shore of Glencar Lough
Descending the access road to both the Devil’s Chimney as well as the Glencar Waterfall on the north shore of Glencar Lough

I’ll describe the approach to the Devil’s Chimney from Sligo since that was where we stayed at the time.

From Sligo, the most straightforward route would be to follow the N16 Road for about 7.5km before reaching the signed turnoff for Glencar Waterfall on the left.

We then took this access road and followed it for about 3.2km to the elongated lay-by opposite the Glencar Lough and next to the trailhead for the Devil’s Chimney.

Overall, this 11km drive should take about 15 minutes though there was some road construction on the N16 requiring us to wait at lights as we going on a brief detour to avoid the construction zone.

Devils_Chimney_001_07142024 - The elongated car park or lay-by for the trail up to the Devil's Chimney
The elongated car park or lay-by for the trail up to the Devil’s Chimney

For context, Sligo was about 23km (less than 30 minutes drive) west of Manorhamilton, 64km (under an hour drive) south of Donegal, about 138km (under 2 hours drive) north of Galway, about 86 miles (under 2 hours drive) southwest of Londonderry (Northern Ireland), 124 miles (about 2.5 hours drive) west of Belfast (Northern Ireland), and 209km (about 2.5 hours drive) northwest of Dublin.

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Bright but brief 360 degree sweep focusing on an elevated view of the Devil's Chimney before panning over to the lake and then finishing with a contextual view of the falls


Brief sweep from the nearest lookout of the falls showing that it was indeed flowing

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Tagged with: sligo, glencar lough, devils chimney, sruth in aghaidh an aird, ireland, seasonal, ulster



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Johnny Cheng is the founder of the World of Waterfalls and author of the award-winning A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls. Over the last 2 decades, he has visited thousands of waterfalls in over 40 countries around the world and nearly 40 states in the USA.
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