The kids never really get much a spring break. It is almost always the Friday and Monday of Easter weekend. So it's a 4 day weekend, but really only 2 days off of school. Not enough time for a Florida trip to visit my folks, but perfect for a weekend get away.
This year we decided to visit Atlanta Georgia to check out the zoo and Aquarium. i always prefer outside activities that don't involve crowds of people, so we fit in a waterfall hike on our way home.
Amicalola Falls State Park is a little ways north of Atlanta, and easy to fit into our route on the way home. Amicalola Falls is Georgia's tallest waterfall at 720 feet. This is also the southernmost point of the Appalachian Trail.
The trail up to the falls is breathtaking. The Amicalola falls loop trail is only 2.1 miles, but it is almost entirely stairs (or at least it feels that way) so it was a pretty strenuous hike. The creek was filled with little falls and rapids, but the big falls are up in the right hand corner of the picture. Hard to see with the brightness.
The closer we got, the more amazing it seemed. The energy from the falls is almost overpowering.
The boys had no problem with the hike, but my girl and i were feeling very out of shape.
Stairs, stairs and more stairs.
We stopped to rest and take in the magnitude of the falls. Then continue up to the very top of the falls.
The view was just unbelievable.
The view looking down.
We didn't actually go all the way to the A.T. approach trail, but were still pretty excited to be so close to where it begins (or ends). My husband is already making plans to hike the A.T. with my boy when he graduates high school. We've hiked small portions of it together as a family, and although i love the idea of hiking it from beginning to end, i'm not sure i could be away from home (and my animals) that long. i would love to one day hike all of it, but do it in small stretches at a time not all at once.
The Amicalola falls are really spectacular and i despite all those stairs, it is definitely worth the hike!
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