Amicalola Falls happened almost by mistake or others may say it was fate. My Biogeography class required me to go on a wildflower hike in one of two parks: Cloudland Canyon or Sweetwater Creek. Well she had originally had Amicalola on the list but could not get a hold of the park to find out time/cost/meeting place etc for the hike.
Well I figured since I would be in Dahlonega for the weekend, why not call and ask.. and I was able to get through the first time to a park ranger. On top of that, I had a friend who's group was having a picnic at the park the same time as the hike. There's where fate comes in.. carpooling is environmentally friendly as well as college student friendly! The best part was that I had a annual State Park Pass so we could save on parking as well!
Felicia and I drove down to the park just as the tour was about to begin. I ran inside the visitors center. One of the park staff gave me a piece of paper with the various wildflowers in bloom and a really cool little state park bag. I went outside to see the naturalist, Andrea Tucker, just about to head out. There were only 2 other people on the hike, an older couple with the intention of one day completing the Appalachian Trail. Did you know its just over 2000 miles to Maine and the trail starts at Amicalola!
Well regardless I won't bore you with too many details of the flowers. To list a few I saw some wild blue phlox (which were actually purple!), some foam flowers (that look like tiara's), these really cool dwarf crested iris's, and a couple jack in the pulpit.
We ended up seeing 2 water snakes but I cannot remember what they were to save my life! We also saw a tiger butterfly, the state butterfly for Georgia. Tucker pointed out the largest tree in the forest, a tulip poplar.. and it was huuuuge! There was also several spots of poison ivy and she touched plenty of it!
The hike only took us to the first platform. To reach the top of the falls would have been 604 stairs. The only problem was it was 2:30pm and I hadn't eaten breakfast that morning since we left in a rush. It looked beautiful and I plan to return and do the full hike for part 2 of Amicalola Falls!
Once the hike finished I walked back to meet Felicia at the visitor's center and bought my second patch! On to the next adventure!
Some random facts I learned:
Amicalola Falls was named by Native Americans meaning "tumbling water" because it tumbles down rocks rather than a straight fall!
Amicalola Falls is the largest water fall east of the Mississippi River, just a couple feet taller than Niagara Falls!
Chestnut trees use to dominate this part of the forest until a blight came along. Only a handful of large trees still exist. The part staff is extremely excited to have found a chestnut seedling near the visitors center!
