Cloudland Canyon

Park 1 - Cloudland Canyon

April 11, 2010
We leave at 8:30am heading 2 hours to the park. No worries.. we had a Dunkin Donuts pit stop for some coffee and sugar! Clay, Kim, Christina, and Melisa are all with me; I'm driving and were listening to crazy music. The further north the more hilly the landscape. I tried to explain karst topography to them.. we ended up saying everything is caused by erosion which I guess is the whole point! It was a pretty funny conversation. Once we got to the park, we stopped by the sign at the main entrance and took a picture, getting some weird looks from drivers going by!

The park itself was fairly small, limited camping spots though they looked newly redone. There are plenty of picnic tables, definitely a nice place to bring a family! We stopped by the Visitors Center. Kim, Clay, and I bought a patch for the park to collect at each one we visit.

The Overlook Trail is gorgeous! You see the entire canyon including the water falls! We saw a falcon flying overhead and it was just a stunning view.

Due to time constraint, we decided to do the 2 mile water falls trail. If you go be prepared to climb down many staircases... we can all testify that going up was worse!!

Regardless the waterfalls were beautiful. We spent maybe 20 minutes at each taking photos and just soaking in the tranquility of the area. Both falls were off in their own little corners falling into small water holes that continue to flow down the canyon. You could see all the erosion on the rocks as just a hint of how powerful that water pressure may have been.

I dare say, we couldn't have chosen a more perfect day to go with temperatures in the mid 70's and a light breeze. We got some great shots and find out that CLay is an amazing photographer! lol :). We are all starting to realize how possible this challenge will be and get super excited about the next trip. Let's see what happens next!