Unicoi

Unicoi State Park
Drive By on December 28, 2010

In the middle of a camping trip to Vogel we, Scott, Carlos, Kim, and I, decided to check out Unicoi which was roughly 25 minutes away.
I remember driving by the signs of the park as a kid thinking how I didn't like the park name. I always thought it would be ugly and just weird in general. Not really sure where that stereotype came from.. just a weird name I guess. Regardless we decided to visit the park to see exactly how amazing it truly was. I was surprised to see it was only 2 miles from Helen. I had been there so many times and didn't realize how close.

The park itself was sort of weird. I was not really sure where the park boundaries were and we drove around for about fifteen minutes looking for the visitors center. The park entrance is gorgeous and has a beautiful lake tucked away in between two mountains. Due to snow and ice conditions we were also not able to see Anna Ruby Falls.

We finally found the visitors center after driving around the campground. the sites looked to be well up kept, the only downside is the distances to the restroom facilities. For some reason I have yet to understand, RVs always park next to the restroom..
Anyway we were also really amused by the cabins they have. Instead of the usual wood log cabins you would see at other state parks, they have these round barrel looking metal cabins! We weren't able to get too close but I really want to stay in one of those! Carlos thought we were crazy but it just looks so strange!!

Unicoi also had a lodge that could be used for conferences. It was kind of funny seeing as it was the same material and look as the cabins at Vogel but I think it gave it a bit of a natural feeling.

Our travel through the park couldn't have been more than 25 minutes. It was nearly 4pm and the sun was all ready setting. We needed to get to a gas station, a Walmart (for food, promise!!), and back to a park before dark.

My biggest memory.. I spent all day trying to figure out what happened to my brand new pocket knife Scott had given me in the morning.. it fell out of my pocket when we were taking the group photo at the sign.... Yeah one of those trips..