Smalls and I have waiting to get out and do some serious hiking. We had a kid free weekend coming up and Smalls didn’t have to work so we planned a backpacking trip. All week, the weather reports kept increasing chance of thunderstorms up to 85%. We decided to stay at home Friday night and get up Saturday morning and see what we might get into. Saturday morning, the rain chances dropped to 15% and there was not a cloud in the sky. We hit the road and headed to Clayton–definitely one of our favorite spots.
We chose to do Bartram Trail to Pinnacle Knob. The trail is listed on AllTrails as moderate difficulty at 7.8 miles. We got going around noon. The trail is awesome! There were multiple waterfalls including Becky Branch Falls. It was well marked with great terrain and several campsites along the way. The views at the top were great! Smalls used the new drone to get some great views. We enjoyed it until a storm camp upon us and we started back down due to lightning. The trees sheltered us for a bit until the rain got so heavy and then the lightning and thunder got us running downhill for about a mile. The rain felt so good! Drenched is an understatement though. The trail started to flood due to all the rain. It stopped for a bit. I can’t describe how gorgeous the woods are after a good rain. All the foliage is bright green, the waterfalls were roaring, and there is an eerie fog that highlights the sunlight peering through the trees.
All in all, it was over 9 miles. It was definitely on the difficult side of moderate but well worth it. We made it back to the truck and put on some dry clothes before heading back into Clayton for dinner. We went back to one of our favorites, Rumor Hazit. Get the trout–you’ll thank me later.
We really had no idea where we would stay so we got a tip from one of Smalls’ friends. We’re sworn to secrecy on where this spot is located, but it was great!
Sunday morning we took our time getting going. Riding around some forest roads led us to Charlie’s Creek Road Trail which is part of the Georgia Traverse Trail. It has recently been graded removing most of the rock climbing. We had a great time! There were water crossings and mud puddles.
On the way home, Smalls took me to Mountain Crossings and spoiled me with my very own backpack. I have been using Talls Zpacks Scout, which I love, but I needed my own. I got the Gossamer Mariposa 60. I’ll do a full review once I do an overnight trip with it. It fits great but it also has a ton of storage including 2 large pockets on hip belt along with 5 other pockets. The back is foam and ventilated. It has a pocket inside the main storage where I can put water bladder and thread tub to shoulder straps. I am so excited to use this pack!
Smalls and Talls Outdoors 