Month: March 2020

Sunday March 29, 2020

I love to see waterfalls and today was a day full of them. I saw 6 waterfalls today.Cherokee Falls at Cloudland Canyon State Park.

I was camped here for a few nights and had already been to the falls once. I was heading out today, but it was such a beautiful cool morning I decided to go see them again. It is a short hike less than a mile to the falls and about 200 steps down to see them. It does take you breath away, but it is worth it. The falls are amazing! From here you can also hike down 400 more steps to see Hemlock falls, but I recommend going to the Sitton’s trailhead parking area and hiking the couple of miles up along the river to see it. It has to be the one of the best day hikes I have ever done.My main goal today was to see Desoto Falls in Fort Payne, Alabama. The Falls are awesome, but it was a small picnic area where you had to pay a $4. parking fee and there was no trail walk to the falls. They were right there. I was a little disapointed that I was missing out on a hike, but the falls are definitly rewarding even if you didn’t have to hike to them. Since the falls were not actually in Desoto State Park I decided to head over the the park and check out some of the hiking trails so I could be out in nature a little more today.


I was able to get one of the last parking spots at the trailhead and saw on the trail map that there were 3 falls within a short distance of each other. Bingo! All of the falls were small, but I enjoyed the hiking and seeing them.

Laural Falls

Lost Falls

Indian Falls

While I was heading to my next camping spot for the evening I passed Little River Canyon. I wanted to stop here, but saw online that they were closed because of the carona virus so I did not plan to stop here. As I drove by the place was packed with cars so I decided to stop and was rewarded with a view of the falls. Even though I’ve been hiking most of the day I didn’t mind the short walk from the parking area to the falls.

Monday March 30, 2020

View from what was their front yard.

I met an interesting couple this afternoon. I am camped on what use to be their land. I am actually close to the trailer they use to live in many years ago.

View of their backyard.

The husband grew up here with his parents. They were mostly self sufficent with farming and could live on very little money. When he grew-up and later married his wife his parents sold them 5 acers of their land to live on.

They showed me where their trailer sat, and where their driveway was. They showed me the utility pole which supplied their power. It was now just a stump in the ground with a wire sticking up. You could still see the remains of the pump house, which I had found earlier in the day when I was out walking Berkley. I had wonder what use to be there. Never did I imagine that I would later find out.

This area was owned by his parents and is where he grew up.

They said they don’t come back here often. It is not the best memory of how they were forced to sell their property to a power company. They were given no choice if they wanted to leave or not. They were given fair market value of the property and told to leave.
Oglethorpe Power Corperation now ownes 5000 acres here and on a portion of it is the Rocky Mountain Recreation and Fishing Area. The area is unbelievely beautiful. I am glad they are at least sharing it with the public although I’m saddened for the families forced to leave.

Thursday March 26, 2020This is a hike you don’t want to miss. It has to be the best day hike I have ever done. It is Sitton’s Trail located in Northwest Georgia. You’ll want to make sure to start from the trailhead parking area NOT from Cloudland Canyon State Park. If you do it from the main trailhead in the park it involves 600 stairs and you will miss the hike along the river. Now you can do it from the park and do the 600 stairs plus 2 miles along the river, but I avoided the stairs since I had to carry Berkley. The stairs are and open metal grate and he does not like them. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it! There is a day parking fee ($5) for the parking area, but trust me it is worth every penny. You’ll want to get there early because there is not that much parking and it was full when I returned from my hike.

The trail follows a river (forgive me for not knowing the name of it) all the way up to Hemlock Falls. The trail guide said it was 2 miles to the falls, but I have to say I was there in no time. I was so entertained the whole way.

What to expect…The trail is rated as strenous, but I felt like the ascents were short lived and there is a chance to catch your breath before it continued up again. The trail was mostly free of roots and rocks so easy walking.There was one water crossing to rock hop across, but I managed to get one foot wet on the way there. I was carring Berkley and did not have the best balance. On the way back across I made it with dry shoes. Yay! There is also a bride crossing far above a waterfall on the way there that had me saying “oh shit” and I would not look down. It has a see though metal grate to walk on. It is definitly better that a swing bridge with a metal grate. I had to do one of those on the Northville-Placid trail in New York. I don’t seek them out that is for sure. Now for the waterfall itself, just check it out it speaks for itself.