According to the Fall Colors website, the foliage was peaking this weekend in northern Georgia. With this in mind, we planned a trip to Dalton on my three day weekend. Dalton is near the northwest corner of Georgia and is in the foothills of the mountains. It is also well known among rail fans because two major railroads - Norfolk Southern and CSX - cross in the center of town.
With only three days, Saturday was our only day to tour the area. We decided to first go hiking in the hills, then eat lunch and watch trains in Dalton, then go see the railroad tunnel in Tunnel Hill. After some quick research, we decided to go hiking at
Cloudland Canyon State Park. The drive to the park took us up and down over many ridges.
About an hour after leaving the motel, we arrived at the park. Our first stop was the Visitor Center to pay for our pass and check out the trail map. We found a trail that led down into the canyon and passed by two waterfalls. It was a quick drive over to the trail head. The trail head was at an overlook with a view all the way down the canyon.
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| Andrew at the trail head |
The hike down was very quick and easy. We passed a lot of people enjoying the outdoors on a fine fall morning. The most interesting was a family with a black lab. They were putting booties on the dog's paws to protect them from the rough metal stairs. The trail was a mix of dirt, gravel, boardwalks, and stairs - over 500 of them.
Near the bottom, we took a branch trail to the left. This branch led us to Cherokee Falls. The valley was narrow with boulders lying everywhere. After taking a couple pictures, we spent our time climbing up, over, and around the big rocks.
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| Andrew and Susan at Cherokee Falls |
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| Family shot on the rocks |
After climbing on the rocks, we continued along the trail to Hemlock Falls. The falls were very nice, but we couldn't get close due to the steep cliffs surrounding the falls.
Finally, it was time to return to the car. The climb up the stairs was long, but not too difficult. Along the way, we found a nice little cave to climb in and cool off.
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| Andrew in a cave |
After our hike, we returned to Dalton for lunch and to see some trains. We started at the Visitor Center, then searched up and down the main street, trying to find a place to eat. It was like the restaurant guide was for another town. We couldn't find several of the places we wanted from the guide.We settled on a small place a block off the main drag. While we ate, three trains went by.
The next stop was the museum at Tunnel Hill. Due to our long search for a place to eat, we arrived 5 minutes before closing time. We drove down the road a quarter mile and checked out the old tunnel that is now a trail, but it was gated and locked because it was after normal business hours.While there, an old man pulled up. We expected to be told to move along, but instead he was a very nice southern gentleman. He saw Andrew and told us he had something for him. He left and came back a few minutes later. He gave Andrew an old, lead bullet from the Civil War days. Then he went on and on and on about his family and the history of the area. We finally had to get in the car and drive away, else he would have just kept talking. :-)
We once again returned to Dalton. We decided to go back to the Visitor Center to watch trains. This time we discovered a computer screen with a map of northern Georgia rail lines. After studying it for a few minutes, we realized that it showed live signal states and train locations. We soon realized that we could see trains approaching our location from miles away. We could predict with a minute's accuracy when the train would appear. And the trains just kept coming, one after another. We saw several Norfolk Southern and CSX trains, but we also saw a BNSF leading a Norfolk Southern train. We eventually called it a night and returned to our motel.
The next morning, we got an early start and headed for Stone Mountain. When we arrived, there was a low overcast and fog. We couldn't see a thing. Even so, we hiked to the top of the mountain. From the top, we pretended how awesome the view was, but in reality, we could only see about a hundred feet in any direction.
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