2015. Amicalola Falls, Georgia.
This week, my mom, sister Donna, and I took off for a girls’ trip to a favorite place of ours in north Georgia: Amicalola Falls State Park. The two of them often go for the afternoon, and they wanted me to come along, and for all of us spend the night in the lodge.
With the leaves changing colors, fall is the perfect time to visit.
So we packed our bags, loaded up the car, and dubbed ourselves, “Thelma and Louise…and Louise.”
When we got to the Park, Mom and Donna took me to all their favorite places, starting with the new visitors’ center. There we looked at the historical exhibits, heard recorded local wildlife sounds including a bear that was so loud I jumped, and browsed the gifts and outdoor gear.
As the gateway to the Appalachian Trail, Amicalola Falls draws 350,000 visitors every year who come to explore the area, enjoy its beauty, and hike the Trail.
This area has a rich history, too—a history of moonshine making and bootlegging starting with Prohibition. Bootleggers in Dawson County would truck massive amounts of moonshine down the winding mountain roads to Atlanta. They would soup-up regular cars and trucks with powerful engines to outrun law enforcement and “tax men” and tear out seats to make more room for all those bottles and jars of moonshine.
One high-speed chase ended with a bootlegger truck slipping off the road and sliding down a 200-foot slope into a stand of poplar trees. Hikers at Amicalola Falls park can still see the rusted-out truck of the 1940s.
2015. An old picture of a very old wrecked rust bucket.
High-speed chases like that one through backwoods, mountain roads eventually led to the birth of NASCAR. It’s a fascinating and surprising piece of history that I never knew about my home state.
The top of Amicalola Falls
After leaving the visitor’s center, we headed to the top of the falls.
Amicalola Falls is the tallest waterfall in Georgia. At the top, a deck stretches over Little Amicalola Creek, which then tumbles down 729 feet over seven cascades.
This little creek is the origin of the tallest waterfall in Georgia.
We shared space with other people in front of the view, took selfies, and enjoyed the sight. When we left, we drove through a wooded area and gazed at the sunlight filtering through mostly yellow leaves, which made some areas golden.
At dinner, we reminisced about special times our family has had at the park. My two favorites are these:
My sister and I took our little girls there one summer day. After a delicious picnic of peanut butter sandwiches and Goldfish, we played on the playground until they were exhausted. Then, on the way home, we stopped by the Dairy Queen drive-thru for treats for us while the little ones slept peacefully on.
In 2015, Mart and I, along with my mom, uncle, and aunt, walked a new easy trail to the falls about 2/3 of the way up from bottom. Mart had never been to Amicalola and had just recently mastered the pronunciation of it (ha!). Our first trip there after my father had passed away, it was a bittersweet day. Still, the painted leaves danced overhead and the waterfall misted our faces. Dad would have loved it. And Dad would have loved that the three of us were on a girls’ trip.
With the recent time change, the sky outside the restaurant windows began to darken early. As we ate dessert, the view pulled me outside to capture the pink, gray, and orange of the setting sun. After a dull, drizzly day, it was quite a show.
The next morning, the view from our room also provided a show. The sun shone on the valley below, picking up the yellows, oranges, and reds of the changing leaves among the evergreens.
We lingered over breakfast for a while in the quiet restaurant just so we could enjoy the view and each other.
Before heading home, we stopped by the top of the falls one more time. The orange tree on the right seemed a little more brilliant and the red tree beyond it seemed a little bit deeper.
As we drove away, I had the sense that I would long remember this girls’ trip—of being with our mom, our first best friend and biggest fan, and each other.
Do you have a favorite state park? Where? And what do you like about it? I’d love to know.
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