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