On The Waterfall Trail

 

I am not a fan of mountain driving especially with a 36-foot fifth wheel trailing behind me. Narrow curvy, curvy roads with nothing but big ditches on each side. Of course those ditches are only there when there are no cliffs along the way that you can fall off of. I am not even going to mention the massive uphills or the mega downhills that I had to deal with. I almost felt bad for the lines of cars behind me, because of course there is no passing on these roads and I'm probably only going 25 mph. Oh well, my survival instincts are strong. Those poor cars are just going to have to deal with it.

I headed across northern Georgia, through the mountains to a little town of Helen. Helen was a dying town back in the sixties. They came up with the idea of turning the whole town into a Bavarian village with all the Bavarian trinket shops that go along with that. This worked for them and now it has  developed quite the tourist trade. It also helped that the whole area is a center for outdoor activities – river rafting, ziplines and Waterfalls!!!! This is what drew me to the area.

I stayed at the Unicoi State Park and Lodge which was pretty empty because we are definitely off season. As we all know, I am a terrible backer-upper, especially since I haven't done it for almost a year. That old adage – If you don't use it, you lose it – definitely holds true in this case. I am proud to say, after many tries, possibly several hours – I was able to back into my site. Yay Me!!! I figure things can only get better at this point.

My first waterfall is Anna Ruby Falls. It is actually two waterfalls, one coming from the Curtis Creek which drops 153 feet and the second comes from York Creek which drops 50 feet. It is managed by the U.S. Forest Service which means because I have the Golden Age Pass, I can get in for free – or so I thought. I have the Golden Age Pass – I got it on the very first day I was eligible. When the forest ranger asked for my pass, I proudly reached into my wallet to retrieve it and it was missing. I am horrified. This pass has been with me for ever and it is gone. Urg.

The trail to Anna Ruby is about a mile round trip. You walk along a stream with many small drops. It was lovely.

A little drop along the trail

A double waterfall!!

And the left spur

And the right

The trail to Dukes Creek Falls is another nice trail. It is about one mile heading down the mountain. You get brief looks at the Falls thru the trees. Dukes Creek Falls has a drop of 150 feet so it is another impressive falls.

Mt Yonah in the distance

Dukes Creek Falls

I had a list of about six waterfalls to visit – I only ended up catching up with two. I guess I will have to just come back sometime in the future.

I had to get diesel for the truck and since diesel was super high in the little town of Helen, I drove ten miles down the road to Cleveland and what do I find?  Babyland General Hospital!! Back in the eighties Cabbage Patch Kids were a big deal.  I never got into them, but millions of people did.  Here, in Cleveland Georgia is the headquarters - the birthing, nursery and adoption center for premium Cabbage Patch kids.  This facility is over 70,000 square feet.  When you enter, there is a desk manned by a woman dressed as a nurse.  There are a few plaques that talk about the history of Cabbage Patch but it seems to be pretty much a giant sales force.  They do say that you can watch a Cabbage Patch kid being born, but luckily, when I was there, there were no births.  I actually found the whole thing to be a little creepy.