Amicalola Falls

Our adventure today was a trip to Amicalola State Park. It's thirty miles north of Cumming, so an easy drive of under an hour. The two major draws to this park are the falls and the approach trail to the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail.

We stopped at the Visitor Center when we arrived. It's small, but it has a few interesting exhibits about the history of the Appalachian Trail and a snake display. A very helpful woman gave us a trail map and made suggestions for a good round trip to view the falls. Outside we met a young woman who had just arrived after hiking a long section of the AT solo. She is working on hiking the entire trail, a section each year, which is a plan many hikers adopt, although a few attempt the difficult through hike in a single hiking season (only an average of 17% of the 2,000 or so who try each year succeed).  This young woman impressed us because of her pluck. We admired her trim backpack, and she told us she had "whipped it up on my home sewing machine" (because she is a small woman and couldn't find a small enough commercial pack). It certainly looked like a professional job. Her pack weighed 28 lbs. She said the most important piece of equipment was her bear cannister--which serves not only to hold her food in an odor tight container safe from bears, but also as a seat and as a tom-tom for a little campfire music.

We started on the Creek Trail and immediately found ourselves in another world, cool and damp and filled with bird song and the splashing dance of the creek below. At the Reflection Pond, we crossed the creek and joined the Appalachian Approach Trail to hike up past some smaller falls to the base of Amicalola Falls.

The actual approach to the base of the falls is the first set of steps to climb. The steps are sturdy, metal, and in good repair, so they're easy to climb--if you're fit. We found excuses to stop along the way to admire the view (and catch our breath).

The next staircase, the West Ridge Staircase, is 425 more steps. The payback for all this climbing is spectacular views of the falls with lots of "wows!" At the top is an overlook and then a short trail to the Lodge. We had our lunch at one of the picnic tables overlooking the lodge and then used the restrooms and explored the lodge and veranda before starting back down.

Instead of climbing back down the metal stairs, we followed our friendly helper's advice and returned to the Visitor Center via the East Ridge Trail. The first section was a bit difficult footing, since it was basically a rock strewn dry creek bed, but we finally came to smoother trail.

We'd been warned that a small male black bear had been seen on that trail recently, but that he would definitely skedaddle if we kept up a conversation so he'd know we were coming. Don't know if the conversation helped, but we didn't see any bears.

At the rear of the Visitor Center we saw a backyard wildlife refuge display. Actually we heard it first: the deep croaking of bullfrogs announced its presence.

We are always glad to hear or see frogs, since amphibians are endangered worldwide.
Back at the house we let the dogs out for a run. Well, Charlie ran and did his business; Bijou turned around a came back in. No amount of coaxing or walking her on a leash made any difference. She just wouldn't pee. Hope she makes it through the night!