1 November 2022
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.
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.
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!
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.
To see the upper falls, you climb a little further (more damned steps) to a platform to see the 50 foot upper 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.
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.
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.
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.
Now, for a little calm and reflection.
Tonight, dinner will be either in Helen or Cleveland. Stay tuned!