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Sunday, October 28, 2012

Northwest Georgia: Amicalola Falls


In the Moore household, a vacation is not a vacation without a good hike. 


Yes, we did "hike" to the top of Brasstown Bald, but 6/10ths of a mile, one way, is a little light for us. Even if the trail was straight up the side of the mountain. Technically, since we were able to push a stroller to the top I'm not sure Brasstown Bald can actually be classified as a hike.



Anyways, our real hike was to the base of Amicalola Falls in Amicalola State Park. 


With a drop of 759-feet, this waterfall is the tallest cascade in the Southeast.




An eight-mile approach trail leads from the ranger station in the park to Springer Mountain, the southern end of the 2,135-mile Appalachian Trail. Hiking the entire AT happens to be #93 on my life list, so it was exciting to see the approach to the AT.



We had a perfect day for hiking.


Jack was a little trooper. We are so thankful he endures being hauled on our little adventures.


We took the New Appalachian Approach Trail/Base of the Falls Trail for 1 mile, which included a 604-step staircase {rated: moderate to strenuous / blue blaze}.  


For our return, we took the West Ridge Access Trail {0.3 miles / rated: easy / wheelchair accessible}. The best part of this trail is that it is composed or recycled rubber tires. It was kind of weird to walk on because it was so springy.


From the parking lot, we took the Spring Trail {0.4 miles / rated: moderate / orange blaze} to the Mountain Laurel Loop {0.5 miles / rated: moderate / green blaze} before connecting to the Creek Trail  which took us back to our car {0.6 miles / rated: moderate / yellow blaze}. 


Our hike totaled 2.8 miles. Not bad considering it was mostly moderate to strenuous and we had an 11-month-old with us.


It looks as though our dog is officially over her fear of water...


and staircases.  


Someday it would be fun to do the 5-mile hike to the Len Foote Hike Inn, Georgia's only backcountry lodge, for an overnight visit to the park.



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