To add to the holiday weekend my boss gave the entire office off this past Friday just cause (what a nice guy right?!!) so Dustin and I decided to take advantage and skip town for a night! Through Air B&B we booked a nights stay at a historic home and headed to North Georgia-specifically the Cleveland/Helen/Dahlonega area-to hike and take in the sights. As one would expect I took a TON of photos so I’m splitting it up, this post is all about the hike we did through Raven Cliffs Falls.
The hike from start to finish was around 5 miles and in that time we came across 2 salamanders (we held one!), 3 snakes (did NOT hold these..), a clicking beetle, lots of butterflies, a HUGE toad (biggest I’ve ever seen) and a bunch of millipedes/caterpillars/snails!! We are both nature lovers and took it all in with a smile that was until I swallowed a medium-sized bug of some sort and then I chocked for a bit until I got it down with some water and trail mix. Laughed it off and kept going..with my mouth closed!
The woods were so green that the trees made a nice canopy that kept us cool. We had forgotten bug spray but thankfully didn’t really get bit. The weather was pretty humid until a small storm rolled through and chilled things down a little, we were scared at first thinking we are going to get drenched since we had two cameras on us but our tree canopy helped with this as well. The actual trail is a mix of dirt, rocks and LOTS of tree roots which made it hard to take your eyes of the ground at many points if you didn’t want to trip or roll an ankle. I really enjoyed the actually climbing parts when we hiked down to a few smaller falls, especially since I had a handsome man helping me!
This mega waterfall was the “end” of the trail, aka our mission, which we reached in just shy of 2 hours after stopping and playing with all the bugs and things we saw along the way. Dustin had been on this hike about a half dozen times so he knew it well and told me that the “ultimate view” was getting ON TOP of this cliff {waterfall} and looking down(!!!) I agreed to try and we hiked up the rocky “trail” to the side of it to the almost top. Then I slipped down some clay and was trapped under a fallen tree holding on for dear life and laugh-crying while experiencing the WORST WEDGIE I’ve ever had and couldn’t move (thanks overall shorts..) So once Dustin helped me up and I gathered myself and dusted off what clay I could, we hiked back down to the normal trail and started our way back to the car. The only injuries I faced from my slip and fall was a really dirty bum and dyed forearms from the clay.
I felt good having an Eagle Scout with me on the trails, however, next time I should remember Dustin is an experienced hiker and that “easy trail” may mean that’s it’s more difficult to me! Our next visit to N. Georgia we’d like to camp on the premises of the trail, after all it’s first come first serve and FREE as well as go tubing!
Coming up: photos from Mountain Laurel Farm Bed & Breakfast!
