Tallulah Gorge State Park (by Asher)

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We went to the State Park on a Sunday. After popping into the Visitor Center for a few minutes, we hit the trail to the gorge. In case anyone who is reading this is unfamiliar with the concept of a gorge, here you go: Gorges are deep. In order to get down into one, you typically need to go down. There are a few (non lethal) ways to do that. One way is stairs, lots and lots of stairs. Three hundred and ten to be exact.

Stairs

More stairs

What do you know? Stairs!

Stairs coming down as seen from the opposite side of the gorge

At the bottom of those 310 stairs, there is a suspension bridge crossing the gorge, eighty feet above the river. 



The bridge even swayed when you walked on it!

From there you have the option of continuing down two hundred and twenty one more steps to an overlook of Hurricane Falls. And, unless you have a permit and are planning to go downriver, that means you have two hundred and twenty one stairs back up.

Hurricane Falls

Bottom of gorge

Now that you're back to the bridge, you have a choice to make. Are you going to go back the way you came, or are you going to climb up the three hundred and forty seven stairs on the other side of the gorge? If you choose to make it a loop by going up the other side, than you will have to get back to the other side somehow. Fortunately for you, there is a bridge for vehicles and pedestrians over a shallower part of the gorge that goes over the dam. 


Now, this is important! Once you cross the bridge, go underneath the bridge, but don't go back up the stairs on the other side! Stay straight! And if you do go up the stairs, don't go down the service road thinking it's the trail. We may or may not have accidentally done just that (see diagram).


There's a few more overlooks of the gorge and dam, and then you're there. Congratulations! You've done over a thousand steps!

If you're feeling good, you can go back in two days and do the thousand steps again with your mom in less than an hour.

Now, enough about the route. We saw three waterfalls on the trail. L'Eau d'Or (Not sure how that one is supposed to be pronounced. Leeyoo Dee Oar?), Tempesta, and Hurricane. They were all pretty. Although, in my opinion, I don't think the two hundred and twenty one stairs are worth it for the overlook for Hurricane Falls.

Tempesta Falls

Afterwards, I flew the drone up to get some pictures of the gorge. I know that you can't fly drones in state parks, so I got dad to drive right to the edge of the park and than I flew it.

View of Tempesta Falls and the suspension bridge

View of the lake, the dam, and the bridge

Panorama of the gorge


Location: Tallulah Gorge State Park, 338 Jane Hurt Yarn Rd, Tallulah Falls, GA 30573, USA

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