Amicalola Falls Spring 2011
Living in the pop-up for a week at Disney affected us in two ways: (1) we were happy
to pack up the pop-up for the winter without even considering another camping
trip before the end of the year and (2) we started fantasizing about buying a
travel trailer. When we bought the pop-up everyone kept telling us that
camping/rv’ing is like a progressive disease: you start out small with your
little pop-up and before you know it you own a motor coach that costs more than
your house! One RV salesman even told us
a story of a 65 year-old female customer of his who came on his lot looking for
a pop-up camper. She looked at several models and then told him that she’d
heard that once you buy a pop-up you quickly decide you want a travel trailer
and then move to a 5th wheel and onto a motor home. He agreed that
he had witnessed that very thing happen with a number of customers. She told
him they better go ahead and start looking at the motor coaches because at her
age she didn’t really have enough time to go through the whole process. Sure
enough, she drove off in a fancy motor coach that afternoon. So, while we took the fall and winter off to
let the weather warm up and recover from Disney, we started looking into the wonderful
opportunities available in the world of travel trailers. We will post more on
that at a later time.
When
spring arrived we decided to dust off the pop-up and head to the mountains
again. We chose Amicalola State Park. What a beautiful place that is! It’s an easy drive just over an hour north of
Atlanta. We went on Mother’s Day weekend and were quite surprised at the number
of other mothers who chose to spend their special day camping with their families.
The campground itself was quite small with only 24 campsites but each site was
plenty spacious with the standard picnic table and fire ring. When we arrived
only a couple of sites were taken so we had our pick. We chose a lovely shaded
spot that was a quick walk to a large open field where the kids could play and
a brief walk to the bath house.
And speaking of the bath house, it was well….not
a place where you wanted to spend a lot of time. (In fact, it added fuel to the
fire of why we wanted a travel trailer.)
As
per our usual routine, I set up camp while Dawn did her best to keep the kids
occupied and out from under foot. This time she made productive use of her time
and took Maggie and the kids on a walk around the campground looking for
kindling for our campfire. By the time they got back, the pop-up was popped-up
and we were ready for our weekend of camping!
Most Georgia State Park campgrounds have some not-terribly-interesting playgrounds
mixed in and around the campsites, but Amicalola was different. There was no
playground on the campground itself, but they had a mac-daddy playground at the
base of the mountain where the visitors center was located. So, while we had to
drive (or take one heck of a walk, which we did) to get there, once there the
kids were happy as clams.
The
weather was quite cool that trip and we got to truly enjoy our campfire that
night before retiring to our toasty little camper. Next morning after some good
hot cheese grits to warm our bellies (not to mention hot coffee) we headed out
on our hiking adventure. We walked the short distance from the campground to
the trail head, which comes in at the top of Amicalola falls.
In order to see
the falls, we had to walk down over 700 metal-grated stairs to reach the trail
and overlook. Unfortunately, Maggie had no interest in putting her paws on
those grates which meant that one of us had to carry Maggie while the other
carried Reagan in the backpack. Joshua, being the big-boy hiker that he is,
walked the entire way without complaint. Once down there, for reasons I still
ponder, we decided to take the trail all the way to the bottom of the mountain
and back up. That was one long, long hike, but quite interesting. Understanding that we are on a trail in the
middle of the woods, we were a bit surprised when we found an old rusted truck
wedged between some trees.
I have no idea how on earth it got there, but I’m
confident I wouldn’t have wanted to have been in it when it made the trip. We were both reminded of the Weasley’s car in
Harry Potter when it chose to live in the woods rather than be driven anymore
by Ron.
When we finally made it
to the visitor’s center, we were able to rest awhile, rehydrate and eat some fruit
we had packed for our trip. The kids played for a while on the playgrounds and
then we headed back up the mountain. Rather than go back the way we came and
face the 700 plus steps going up, we chose to take the mountain trail all the
way back. There were some beautiful vistas along the way, but we were both so
out of breath we could barely comment on them. Joshua is a big-boy hiker, but
he’s not super boy (don’t tell him that) and we spent a great deal of the trip
up the mountain carrying him on our backs. Reagan, of course, enjoyed the trip
from the comfort of her backpack so we would switch out carrying them when one
of us would get too tired.
Poor little
Maggie with her 6-inch long legs made it the whole way back on her own. Of
course, she snoozed the rest of the day once we made it back to the
camper.
By the second day, more campers had
arrived and we found ourselves next to this great little family from Gwinnett.
They had two little boys, the oldest of which was about same age as Josh and
the two became almost instant best friends.
Reagan kept calling the younger boy, who was older than she, “baby.” I
don’t think he appreciated it very much.
The four if then spent hours playing in the big open field behind our campsites. It’s always fun to meet great people on camping trips.
The next morning we had breakfast at the lodge and it was quite yummy, Joshua and I really enjoyed the do it yourself waffle maker. You can’t beat the price for a nice big breakfast to start your day. We will do that again when we return. We spent our last day hiking the rest of the trails. Johua wanted to know if this was a bear cave for a little bear…..
We will hopefully be able to make mothers day camping a tradition. The weather was perfect, and you don’t have the crowds to deal with that can be there in the summer months. Beautiful park with nice, intimate campground, gorgeous water falls. We hope to return in the fall.
to pack up the pop-up for the winter without even considering another camping
trip before the end of the year and (2) we started fantasizing about buying a
travel trailer. When we bought the pop-up everyone kept telling us that
camping/rv’ing is like a progressive disease: you start out small with your
little pop-up and before you know it you own a motor coach that costs more than
your house! One RV salesman even told us
a story of a 65 year-old female customer of his who came on his lot looking for
a pop-up camper. She looked at several models and then told him that she’d
heard that once you buy a pop-up you quickly decide you want a travel trailer
and then move to a 5th wheel and onto a motor home. He agreed that
he had witnessed that very thing happen with a number of customers. She told
him they better go ahead and start looking at the motor coaches because at her
age she didn’t really have enough time to go through the whole process. Sure
enough, she drove off in a fancy motor coach that afternoon. So, while we took the fall and winter off to
let the weather warm up and recover from Disney, we started looking into the wonderful
opportunities available in the world of travel trailers. We will post more on
that at a later time.
When
spring arrived we decided to dust off the pop-up and head to the mountains
again. We chose Amicalola State Park. What a beautiful place that is! It’s an easy drive just over an hour north of
Atlanta. We went on Mother’s Day weekend and were quite surprised at the number
of other mothers who chose to spend their special day camping with their families.
The campground itself was quite small with only 24 campsites but each site was
plenty spacious with the standard picnic table and fire ring. When we arrived
only a couple of sites were taken so we had our pick. We chose a lovely shaded
spot that was a quick walk to a large open field where the kids could play and
a brief walk to the bath house.
And speaking of the bath house, it was well….nota place where you wanted to spend a lot of time. (In fact, it added fuel to the
fire of why we wanted a travel trailer.)
As
per our usual routine, I set up camp while Dawn did her best to keep the kids
occupied and out from under foot. This time she made productive use of her time
and took Maggie and the kids on a walk around the campground looking for
kindling for our campfire. By the time they got back, the pop-up was popped-up
and we were ready for our weekend of camping!
Most Georgia State Park campgrounds have some not-terribly-interesting playgrounds
mixed in and around the campsites, but Amicalola was different. There was no
playground on the campground itself, but they had a mac-daddy playground at the
base of the mountain where the visitors center was located. So, while we had to
drive (or take one heck of a walk, which we did) to get there, once there the
kids were happy as clams.
The
weather was quite cool that trip and we got to truly enjoy our campfire that
night before retiring to our toasty little camper. Next morning after some good
hot cheese grits to warm our bellies (not to mention hot coffee) we headed out
on our hiking adventure. We walked the short distance from the campground to
the trail head, which comes in at the top of Amicalola falls.
In order to seethe falls, we had to walk down over 700 metal-grated stairs to reach the trail
and overlook. Unfortunately, Maggie had no interest in putting her paws on
those grates which meant that one of us had to carry Maggie while the other
carried Reagan in the backpack. Joshua, being the big-boy hiker that he is,
walked the entire way without complaint. Once down there, for reasons I still
ponder, we decided to take the trail all the way to the bottom of the mountain
and back up. That was one long, long hike, but quite interesting. Understanding that we are on a trail in the
middle of the woods, we were a bit surprised when we found an old rusted truck
wedged between some trees.
I have no idea how on earth it got there, but I’mconfident I wouldn’t have wanted to have been in it when it made the trip. We were both reminded of the Weasley’s car in
Harry Potter when it chose to live in the woods rather than be driven anymore
by Ron.
When we finally made it
to the visitor’s center, we were able to rest awhile, rehydrate and eat some fruit
we had packed for our trip. The kids played for a while on the playgrounds and
then we headed back up the mountain. Rather than go back the way we came and
face the 700 plus steps going up, we chose to take the mountain trail all the
way back. There were some beautiful vistas along the way, but we were both so
out of breath we could barely comment on them. Joshua is a big-boy hiker, but
he’s not super boy (don’t tell him that) and we spent a great deal of the trip
up the mountain carrying him on our backs. Reagan, of course, enjoyed the trip
from the comfort of her backpack so we would switch out carrying them when one
of us would get too tired.
Poor littleMaggie with her 6-inch long legs made it the whole way back on her own. Of
course, she snoozed the rest of the day once we made it back to the
camper.
By the second day, more campers had
arrived and we found ourselves next to this great little family from Gwinnett.
They had two little boys, the oldest of which was about same age as Josh and
the two became almost instant best friends.
Reagan kept calling the younger boy, who was older than she, “baby.” I
don’t think he appreciated it very much.
The four if then spent hours playing in the big open field behind our campsites. It’s always fun to meet great people on camping trips.
The next morning we had breakfast at the lodge and it was quite yummy, Joshua and I really enjoyed the do it yourself waffle maker. You can’t beat the price for a nice big breakfast to start your day. We will do that again when we return. We spent our last day hiking the rest of the trails. Johua wanted to know if this was a bear cave for a little bear…..
We will hopefully be able to make mothers day camping a tradition. The weather was perfect, and you don’t have the crowds to deal with that can be there in the summer months. Beautiful park with nice, intimate campground, gorgeous water falls. We hope to return in the fall.
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