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Photos...
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=16v9pei2.8s0ii6cq&x=0&y=-kesqh3&localeid=en_USSona, Sona's parents, and I had a great time relaxing and hiking in Cloudland Canyon Georgia State Park. It's about a two and a half hour drive from Buckhead. Like any of Georgia's parks, it's best to arrive in the day time. There is almost no light in the park at night (a good thing), but it makes the short drive from the highway to the cabins a hectic one.
The cabin was very comfortable, complete with full electric kitchen, two bedrooms, a fireplace, and even cable TV. Sona's mom was disappointed she didn't bring more food to cook since there was a full kitchen ready to be used. We bought firewood, but it turned out to be too warm to need it. We just kept it for the next camping trip.
Saturday morning Sona and I got up early to hit the hiking trails. There are three main trails. The West Rim Loop goes around the the cabin area where we stayed. The back country trail goes around the primitive camp sites. There is a second back country trail that connects Cloudland Canyon with Lookout Mountain. They closed this trail a while back (not sure when). It wasn't on the par's trail map, but it was in the hiking trail book I had brought (one of the benefits of having an 8 year old trail book.
We began the morning with the first half of the West Rim trail. It's a fun hike with stunning views of the cloud filled canyon all along the way. The trail takes you to the stream in the bottom of the and then back up to the tourist lookout area on the other side. The notable sightings included a huge bull frog, some birds, and some beautiful wild berries and flowers. Too many daddy long-legs spiders to count too.
Once at the tourist lookout area there are well built stairs (very similar to the ones at Amicollola Falls) down to two beautiful waterfalls. The hike back up was tiring, but not so bad.
We then set out to find the trail head for the unmapped (closed) back country trail to Lookout Mountain. There's no trail connecting the Group Lodge with the lookout so we (annoyingly) had to walk along the road. I don't know why they didn't put a trail or sidewalk in for this. Our first couple attempts to find the old trail head were misses, but Sona gets the credit for finally getting us on the right path.
The trail was in rough shape. Lots of overgrowth and some slippery sections due to erosion and no maintenance. We forced our way through and to the stream at the bottom. It was worth it! What a stunning view with a beautiful rock fall and overhang.
We walked under the overhang and then over the rockfall to the other side of the stream. There were remnants of an old footbridge there. When we saw this, it all made sense as to why this trail was closed and the on on the other side of the stream, on Lookout Mountain, was open and well maintained. There must be a trail head somewhere on Lookout Mountain to get you started on the proper trail.
We didn't want to push ourselves too hard. We skipped the Lookout Mountain loop trail and headed back up to the tourist lookout area.
After finally getting my instrument rating back in October, I've been doing a lot more PIC (Pilot in Command) flying. Sona and I have have been having a great time exploring more Georgia towns and taking small trips. She's an excellent passenger and a great photographer. Nearly 100% of the photos are taken by Sona. The trip to La Grange was in a Yellow Jacket plane with my good buddy Bryan Turner.
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