Over 1500 miles later, I pulled into the driveway at 1:05 pm today. I did get an early start from Lake City so I made better time with less early morning traffic. As per usual, a couple of places on the turnpike bogged down a little but the biggest traffic tie-up was in Broward County near Broward Boulevard. Fortunately, I was only 6 minutes from home.
Even with the price of diesel, I got by pretty cheaply on the cost of fuel. I filled up three times and that was $167.80. Of course, it was more expensive around larger cities and the interstate but I paid as low as $4.67 per gallon in north Georgia and as high as $5.45 in Florida. Seems Florida has more gas tax than Georgia.
This was a great trip and just what I needed – to get back into the woods for a change of scenery. The weather was perfect for hiking and I missed the summertime crowds. It was extra nice having Jimmie and Stephen to share the experience.
Amazingly, I only gained two pounds on the trip! Looks like I need to up my exercise game now I’m back home.
Hopefully, it will not be too long before my next excursion. Stay tuned!
A the sun sets on the Smithgall Woods stay. Or, I should say, the sun rose on the last day at the cottage. Usually, I’m the first one out the door to head home but Jimmie and Stephen beat me to it this morning. After I saw them off to Greensboro, I took my time packing up things and loading the jeep. I finally pulled out of the park around 8:30 am and pulled into Lake City’s Home2 Suites by Hilton at 3 pm – a 6 1/2 hours to the minute of my estimate. Tomorrow’s trip home is gonna be a little over 5 hours depending on how crazy the Florida Turnpike is and how bad traffic slows at West Palm Beach., Helton C
On this trip, Jimmie and I visited two waterfalls: Helton Creek Falls and Anna Ruby Falls. Technically, Anna Ruby falls are two falls in one location. This was my third trip to Anna Ruby and I’d still go back again.
In North Georgia, there are seventeen significant waterfalls (counting the two at Anna Ruby): Amicolola (the tallest in the state) Anna Ruby, Desoto Falls, Dukes Creek Falls, Chunanee Falls, Helton Creek Falls, Hemlock Falls, High Shoals Falls, Horse Trough Falls, Panther Creek Falls, and Tallulah Gorge. Tallulah Gorge has five separate waterfalls: Tempesta, Hurricane, Oceana, Bridal Veil and L’eau d’Or. Of the 16 waterfalls in north Georgia I’ve been to 12: Amicolola, Anna Ruby, Desoto, Dukes Creek, Chunanee, Helton Creek, and all five of the Tallulah Gorge.
I guess I need to make a few more trips to North Georgia. Actually, in Cloudland Canyon State Park in northwest Georgia, I’ve been to both of those waterfalls: Cherokee and Hemlock, so that’s an additional two.
I pretty much try to visit any waterfall anywhere near where I stay. Over the years, the one thing I can confirm is that Bridal Veil Falls is a very common name for waterfalls throughout the U.S. Every waterfall is, of course, unique to the terrain and every one amazes. There is something calming about the effect of falling water.
Often associated with waterfalls are rapids and cascades. One would think that South Florida would be a stranger to any of these water features but the Miami River at one time had a set of rapids. My understanding is they were blown up to allow vessels access to the upper reaches of the Miami River.
Now it’s time to head home and start getting ready for Thanksgiving. It’s been a great trip. Thanks for coming along with me!
It was a sleepless night. I turned out the light at 11 pm, waked at 1:30 am, tossed and turned, picked up a book and read until 4:30 am and finally dozed off around 6:30 am and was out of bed around 7:30 am. Interspersed were four bathroom breaks. It could have been the coke I had at Clydes Table and Tavern yesterday. It came out in a quart Mason jar.
Bagels and coffee for breakfast and then Jimmie and I abandoned Stephen and headed out to Anna Ruby Falls. It’s my third visit (it never gets old) and her first. You couldn’t ask for a nicer day.
The parking lot at Anna Ruby Falls. We got there a little after 9 am and the parking lot wasn’t too full. After we hiked back from the falls, it was filling fast. I just missed a photo of the sun breaking over the mountain in the background.
The trail to Anna Ruby Falls is 0.9 miles round trip and the way is fully paved. The only problem is it is all uphill to the falls. The good news is it is all downhill from the falls back to the parking lot.
Paved trail to Anna Ruby Falls.
We met a few people along the way and we would offer to trade off taking photographs of each other.
This is a short bridge across Smith Creek. Photo is courtesy of a nice lady on her way down.Jimmie was the photographer on this one!
There is one very steep portion of the trail but that soon levels off and you are right at the falls. There are two observation platforms to view the falls.
View from the first observation deck.
The falls on the left are 153 feet in height and the origin is Curtis Creek. The falls on the left are 50 feet and the origin is York Creek. They unite below the falls to form Smith Creek.
The fall colors on the way to the falls were spectacular!
On the upper observation deck, we ran into a lady from St. Petersburg, Florida with her dog Phoebe. She took a couple of shots of Jimmie and me.
Upper observation deck.
One of my favorite features of the iPhone 12 is the ability to do long exposure. You get to “freeze” the flow of water of the falls.
Falls from York Creek with “long exposure.”
The trip down from the falls was easy and my left knee only warned me I was pressing my luck. Once back in the parking lot, I gave Jimmie a quick tour of Unicom State Park. Then we picked up Stephen at Smithgall Woods and headed to Huddle House in Helen for lunch and then I drove them over to Santee Nacoochee, Georgia. It’s a little village frozen in time.
The Old Sautee Store
The first part of this building is like an old general store with completely authentic antique furnishings. The back of the store is the reason I had them come here – salt water taffy by the pound.
Inside the store.
We also ordered sandwiches to go at a nearby “cafe.” We had stuffed ourselves at Huddle House and I suggested sandwiches for dinner so we don’t have to go to either Helen or Cleveland for dinner. There is a small cafe to the left of the store that serves gourmet sandwiches. We made it back to the park around 2:30 pm. We’re in for the night and we spend our last night at Smithgall Woods.
Tomorrow, I’ll head to Cleveland and take the bypass around Atlanta and head down I75 to Lake City, Florida, approximately a 6 and 1/2 hour trip (not including stops).
Happy 74th birthday to me! Whew! I didn’t know if I would make it. I’m still here and can still get out in the woods and hike, so all’s well!
I was the first up this morning, followed by Stephen and then Jimmie. By the time Jimmie came out, Stephen and I had already finished two cups of coffee and a bagel each. Not long after, Jimmie and I headed out to see Helton Creek Falls.
Usually when I’m on a trip, I use AllTrails to plan my trip. The app suggested that Helton Creek Road was approximately 1.2 miles from the entrance of Vogel State Park on US129/19. That’s probably true if you are coming from the south but my GPS routed me from the north along the Russell Scenic Highway (which, by the way, is very, very scenic, particularly in the fall).
In any case, we finally found Helton Creek Road which leads to the falls and AllTrails was correct in saying the paved road finally petered out into a dirt road. Helton Creek Road actually is a through road and AllTrails indicated you would have to ford two creeks to get to the falls. Apparently, that information is accurate if you come in from the opposite entrance than we did so we didn’t have to ford any creeks. Dang! I wanted to use my four wheel drive!
Both Jimmie and I have hip pain so I was concerned when we encountered a “few” steps which turned into many steps. I hate steps. I hate when trail managers make steps in the terrain. Whatever they make is not made for a natural gait up steps. We persevered, in any case. It was worth it. The trip down to the falls and back is supposed to be 0.6 miles.
We did get a little caution at the beginning of the trail.
The snake in the photo is a copperhead.
I’ve had more than one close encounter of the copperhead kind over the years. The weather was cool so I assured Jimmie there would be none out – they would be in hibernation. I lied. They would still be out but they would have been extremely sluggish. I used to step on them in Tishomingo State Park when I was doing my masters thesis work and in winter, you could get away with that. I don’t recommend stepping on them in the summer months.
Your first view of the falls is just after the parking lot to the trail.
Helton Creek Falls from the trailhead.
It’s a steady, gradual trail down to the base of the falls. The only real problem was the rain of the previous day made some of the footing a little slippery – and those damn steps!
Trail down to the falls. The tail is well maintained by volunteers.
The falls are considered a double falls with a lower and upper. The lower falls are said to be 40 feet in height. To get a good view of the lower falls you need to follow more damned steps down to the creek.
Lower falls. You can see the observation platform for the upper falls in the upper right of the photo. I wonder if these should technically be called a cascade.
To see the upper falls, you climb a little further (more damned steps) to a platform to see the 50 foot upper falls.
Upper Helton Creek Falls
AllTrails does say that the falls are more spectacular after a heavy rain but the rain yesterday was very slight. Even so, there was a pretty good flow of water on both the upper and lower.
If you look very carefully in the photo above, you can see a hornet net. Look at the top of the falls and then a little to the right.
Hornet nest
Hornets are paper nest builders. The largest I’ve ever seen was at Golden Memorial State Park (conveniently built on the side of the concession stand). I can only imagine the law suits the state park commission would have endured if I hadn’t removed it when I was park manager. It’s hard to judge the size of this one because of the distance but I’m glad it is winter here and the hornets aren’t too active. Life is too short to be stung again by hornets. My one and only experience with a sting from one literally knocked me off my feet.
After hiking back up those damned steps, Jimmie and I headed back to Smithgall Woods and picked up Stephen for lunch in Cleveland. It seems Cleveland, Georgia and Helen, Georgia are about the same distance from the park. Helen is tourist nirvana and Cleveland is just an old fashioned southern town with a courthouse and square. The old courthouse is now a museum.
The old White County Courthouse (now a museum) in Cleveland, Georgia.
We had no restaurant destination in mind in Cleveland so we just headed for Main Street and one circle around the square showed us Clyde’s Table and Tavern. It turned out to be a gem of a find.
Clydes
They had a special of three tacos with fillings of chicken, pork and brisket. I highly recommend that. After getting our fill at Clydes, I wanted a coffee.
Just out the door and down the street was Farmhouse Coffee, an independent coffee house. My order was their holiday special, pumpkin pie spice latte. It was desert in a cup. I got to talking with the employees and they are getting ready to open up another coffee shop in Gainesville, Georgia. Can a franchise system be far behind. Really, the coffee was delicious and they even sell their speciality syrups for their coffees.
Farmhouse Coffee on the left.
Now, for a little calm and reflection.
Helton Creek Falls
Tonight, dinner will be either in Helen or Cleveland. Stay tuned!
