I have to admit the Comfort Inn was comfortable. I had an excellent night of sleep -and then awoke to the shootings in Las Vegas.
I was on the road by 9 am and made it to Cloudland Canyon State Park a little after noon. The park ranger surprised me with a ready cabin even though check in is 3 pm. I had intended to settle accounts and simply start a day Hike but I was able to dump luggage at the cabin before I started off.
The cabin is great and fairly isolated from the other cabins. It also has a workable fireplace that I intend to get lit before the trip is over.
The park was established in 1938 and is comprised of 3,488 acres along the western edge of Lookout Mountain (Chattanooga is only a few miles away). My intention today was to hike the West Ridge Trail Loop and do the falls tomorrow. Right!
The West Ridge Trail Loop is a five mile trail that Backpacker magazine once rated as one of the top ten trails in the U.S. After today, I can see why. The magazine this past month rated it as the top trail in Georgia.
Most of the trail follows the ridge of the gorge and is well marked (with one exception). Switchbacks are well designed and there are several overlooks that are well placed and well maintained.
At a certain point in the loop, you can break off and go the the falls. There are two in the gorge: Cherokee and Hemlock. Cherokee has a 60 foot drop and Hemlock has a 90 foot drop. You start the trail down to the falls at the top of the ridge and drop to the canyon below, a distance of 1000 feet.
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Cloudland Canyon is the deepest gorge in Georgia. Of course, you retrace your steps up 1000 feet! The trail down is 1.8 miles. At one point, to reach Hemlock, you have to descend 600 steps. I can honestly say I would rather walk a steep, rocky trail than to walk up 600 steps.
Both Falls had a decent water flow and I got some great photos.
On the return trip, I retraced my steps back to the loop trail and headed back to the cabin. As the West Ridge Loop wound back up, as you passed cabins, a sign on the trail marked each one. Except for one. Cabin 6 was not marked and the side trail so indistinct, I walked about a mile further than I needed.
I have to brag. My tracker measured over 8 miles for the trip today with maximum elevation and elevation gain and loss of over 1600 feet. I only started getting tired towards the last so I guess those hot yard work days paid off. However, the stairs were a killer.
