My brother has always said that Cloudland Canyon is his favorite GA state park. So, as a newly single woman looking for some adventure when the children were away, I chose to go here first. I used to hike alone but I was not comfortable camping alone. I convinced a friend of mine to go with me. We drove up on a Friday night in October and had reservations for a standard campsite. It was dark and misting rain when we arrived. Also, these sites a little bit of a walk from the parking lot and we had a lot of gear to haul in. It went pretty smooth and we had gotten some hacks from Pinterest to help us out. I think my favorite thing was a large water jug with a headlamp for a lantern. Our headlamps and rain boots were perfect.
We had a 6 man tent with air mattresses and mummy style down sleeping bags we borrowed from my friend’s brother-in-law.
Saturday morning we woke up early to get the fire going and I made a bacon, egg, and hash brown scramble that has become a favorite. From there, we headed to the Interpretive Center to access hiking trails. We completed the waterfalls trail, Sitton’s Gulch, and finished with part of the West Rim Trail. Peanut butter and honey sandwiches on the trail were just right. It was amazing. I took my Cannon Rebel camera. I’m sure I was extremely annoying with all the pictures I was taking but it was so beautiful! I had the best time. If I wasn’t already, I was hooked from here.
Sunday was even more exciting. We went spelunking with G3 Adventures. I believe they closed the next year. We paid for the 1 hour required trip and added on more time once we got going. We had a lot of rain recently so there was water up to our waist as we walked through. There was only 1 area that was so narrow that we had to crawl and that was the exit. What a unique and exciting adventure! I loved the challenge as I wasn’t sure if I would feel claustrophobic.
After spelunking, we had some time before we had to leave so we took another look from the Overlook and then a bit of the Meadowlands Trail. The sun was finally peaking out giving a better view of the fall colors. It was an incredible trip!
Smalls and Talls Outdoors 