1 Apr 2021
We woke up to find that the rain had stopped, but that the temperatures had dropped and were hovering in the mid-30s. Glen-Ella gave us the option of coming to the dining room for breakfast or having it delivered to our room. Breakfast in bed (or in-room anyway) sounded like fun, so we filled out our order last night and while I was in the shower, food showed up outside our room! Eggs, french toast bake, bacon (for Matt), fresh fruit, granola and yogurt (for me!).
Even Matt ate breakfast!
Our first hike of the day was at Tallulah Gorge State Park:
We started on the North Rim Trail, went down to Hurricane Falls, and took the South Rim Trail back around to the dam where it became the North Rim Trail again.
Had to stop for a quick photo-op as a gecko before starting down our trail:
The beginning of the trail was made up of shredded recycled tires and was quite cushy, which Matt appreciated. Welcome to Tallulah Gorge:
Tempesta Falls:
Lots of stairs
that eventually lead down to a cool suspension bridge:
Getting closer…
The bridge!
Us on the bridge:
A cool rainbow!
And back up a ton of stairs to the other side of the gorge:
We made it to the other side!
There were vines starting to grow up this pergola- I’m sure it’s beautiful in the summer when they bloom!
From the other side of the gorge, we could just barely see this structure- it’s much prettier from this side
The trail went up and along the road- it looked like you used to be able to walk across the dam, but that path was currently closed.
Our next stop was Anna Ruby Falls:
This one was a short, half mile (one way) paved path:
An easy stroll with plenty of benches along the way:
Us, on the trail!
It was a beautiful hike!
We made it!
Anna Ruby Falls:
We also spotted all these cute, animal-themed signs:
On the way to Anna Ruby Falls, we drove through Helen, a little Bavarian-themed town:
Look how cute it is!
I spotted several places selling these giant pretzels!
They made for a delicious lunch!
Our final stop of the day was to Brasstown Bald, the tallest point of Georgia! We drove up several winding mountain roads:
That’s where we’ll be hiking:
There is a shuttle that runs to the top, but it’s not running right now, so we hiked 1/2 mile all the way up to the top.
It started out looking easy, though it got steep pretty quickly!
But we made it to the top!
These helpful plaques were mounted around the top of the observation tower, this one looking to the northeast:
Looking north:
Us, on top of the mountain!
Southwest:
Zoom in super-far and you can see Atlanta!
South:
That’s our car, way down there!
The top of the observation tower wasn’t open
I would recommend not sitting under that spout!
One last viewpoint to the east:
We took advantage of these convenient rocking chairs before heading back down
Back down the curvy mountain roads…
…and eventually we made it to our hotel, the lodge at Amicalola Falls:
There wasn’t a clear shot as we drove up, but this is lodge, set atop the mountain
and just a short hike away from Amicalola Falls
There’s a staircase down to the bottom, but unfortunately, it had been raining rather heavily shortly before we arrived and part of the trail had washed out, so the stairs were closed.
Awesome views of the mountains from inside the lodge:
And we had an amazing view of the sunset from our room!
