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Saturday, June 27th – July 1st
The drive into N. Georgia on Hwy 441 was very different from
our previous days’ travels. Here we began to see mountains and valleys, with
many small towns along the way. You know you’ve changed altitudes when you see
mountain laurels and rhododendron along the forests. When we arrived at the
park, we found a very nice pull thru site at the edge of the campground,
perfect for us. It was raining somewhat during our setup, but later it cleared
up and we drove around the park and local area to get the lay of the land. This
park is surrounding the Tallulah River Gorge, which is dammed just upstream of
the campground. This created a nice lake with a swimming beach. We did walk the
trail along the north rim to get our first glimpse of the gorge. Wow, it’s
amazing to see such a deep canyon (up to 1000 feet) in the mountains!
The next day, the forecast was 60% rain, so we decided to go
out for breakfast in the nearby town of Clayton. Nice mountain town with all
the necessary shopping and some touristy stuff. Lake Rabun was just west of
town, so we drove back on the lake side road, viewing the many huge homes and
small cottages on the lake. Now we know where so many Floridians go to escape
the summer heat. There were Florida vehicle tags everywhere! We relaxed in the
camper until the rain passed. After lunch, we took our kayaks to the lake and
paddled around for a couple of hours. The fishing there was apparently good,
but Kurt doesn’t have a Georgia fishing license, so we just enjoyed the paddle on
a beautiful day.
The third day we went to the ranger station to obtain a
permit to hike down to the gorge floor. The weather was perfect and we struck
out on the trail. The trail begins at the north rim trail, down 392 steps to
the suspension bridge crossing the gorge. After that there were 890 more steps
to get to the bottom of the gorge where there was a boulder/rocky river crossing.
The ranger did warn everyone about the “rock scrambling” on the trail along the
river (2 miles on the south side). Most of it was huge boulders that we had to
climb or crawl over. As we passed three waterfalls, the scenery was
magnificent. The last waterfall was at
Sliding Rock. Here you could swim in the pool at the base of the waterfall,
and/or slide on your behind down the rock to the pool below. We chose not to
risk any injuries and just went for a swim to cool off. Next we had to cross
the river here and begin the arduous trail climb back up to the south rim
trail. This was the hardest part, very rocky as the elevation changed 1000 feet
in 1 mile. Wow, it was tough, but we finally made it back to camp. It was a
challenging hike with amazing scenery.
The next morning it was raining, so we were stuck in the
camper for a few hours. When the rain ended, we took our bikes on a rail trail
that went from the park along the river. It was nice to get outside for a while.
Later, Kurt took the dogs for a hike down to Tallulah Lake, which they really
enjoyed.
For our last day at the park, we decided to drive up through
the town of Clayton and on up to Black Rock Mountain State Park. This place was
recommended as another mountain park with great hikes to the mountain peak. On
a clear day, from the overlook, you can see up to 80 miles; Tennessee, N. Carolina
and S. Carolina. However, the promised sunny skies were nonexistent, so we only
saw clouded mountains and the valley below. It was still a great hike and at
least it didn’t rain.
As we drove around the area of these beautiful N. Georgia
mountains, we thought about checking out the real estate in the area for the
land we are looking for. This area around Clayton and Mountain City seems like
a wonderful place to spend the summers. On our way back to camp, we stopped in
Clayton at a real estate office to inquire about the type of land we are
looking for. One of the purposes of this trip is to find a couple of acres
where we can setup utilities and an area to park our RV, or two! We will definitely
consider this area in N. Georgia.