Amicalola Falls and Bear Creek Trail - The Gang Goes to Georgia

So while I drove down to Georgia and had my adventures at The Hermitage and Foster Falls, Wayne and his buddies were making their way south with campers and ATV's in tow.

Tom and Roxy

He even brought along a friend for me! Not that he didn't enjoy hanging out with her, I almost fell down the hill when he started racing Vicky to the top - I don't remember the last time I saw him move so fast without wheels!

Vicky and Wayne

One of our neighbors had a friend in Ellijay so we got a personal tour of some of the local trails, including Bear Creek Trail.

It turns out Vicky likes to walk, but she isn't used to creek crossings.  Don't worry, I'll get her trained her up - when the weather warms up in Wisconsin she wants to start checking out the Ice Age Trail.

The Bear Creek Trail can be as long or short as you like, I would have loved to go further but the gang's destination was the Gennett Poplar, the second largest living tree in Georgia.

Here's a shot with Wayne from a little farther away to give a bit of perspective.  I'm not used to seeing true old growth trees, it's hard to imagine this forest once full of them.

Out to the Poplar and back is two miles round trip, after that Vicky and I were just getting warmed up so we split off from the guys and hopped in my car for another hiking adventure.

We drove to Amicalola Falls State Park which is home to the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail.

I'm sure things are greener there now, but even so the thru hikers for the Appalachian Trail were starting out with their large packs.  I can't imagine what the weather is like on the top of the mountains overnight in March...I'll stick to the valleys.

A fair bit of spring wildflowers were showing, including the largest, healthiest Toadstool Trillium that I've ever seen. Vicky got a wildflower lesson that day, and the benefit to the bare trees was being able to see the waterfall the whole way from the Visitor Center.  From the Visitor Center to the staircase I'd say it was about 3/4 mile on a slight to moderate incline.

Plunging 729 feet, Amicalola Falls is the tallest cascading waterfall in the South and to get to the bridge crossing the falls there is a climb of 175 stairs from the Reflection Pool parking area. 

We are Wisconsin gals, so of course we got winded easily.  We stopped often to let the oxygen make its way to our lungs and trembling legs, but that just gave us more time to look for wildflowers!

We considered going on another 250 stairs to the top, but in my experience the top of the falls is never as much fun to look at.  At the bridge we noticed the path was made from recycled tires which made it springy and soft, a welcome treat after all those stairs!

I failed to stop in the visitor center and ask about the truck wedged between the trees, but some internet searching reveals that legend claims moonshiners were racing to get away from the "Revenuers" and the truck slipped 200 feet down the steep incline to rest against a stand of Poplar trees. There was no way to pull the truck from its position, so there it has remained for well over a half-century. 

The section of trail past the falls leads .3 mile to a parking area where those who don't want to walk stairs can park and enjoy the views.

From there we opted to take the Spring Trail to the Mountain Laurel Trail to the Creek Trail to make our way back down to the car.  This zigzag descent was much easier on our knees than those stairs would have been, and we had it all to ourselves though we moved along fairly quickly as the wind was picking up  and the temperature was dropping. Our total hike was about a mile to the falls (that's including all those stairs!) and a little under 2 miles back down.

recycled tire trail was so comfy!

Combined with our earlier hike that day we hiked almost 5 miles, so I'm looking forward to doing more hiking with Vicky...if it will ever stop snowing here...