Torreya State Park was on-the-way for my thanksgiving trip in 2024, I decided to attempt it. The main trail wasn’t difficult. There’s a few elevation gains and losses but, IMO, the Pioneer Trail in Jennings State Forest is a much more challenging Florida Trail. I had read that ticks were insane around the time I was planning to hike, not to mention the overgrowth was crazy, so I soaked all my clothes and gear in permethrin. Low-and-behold, not even 20 minutes into my hike I see a tick crawling on my pants. I watched it. It took him about 30 seconds to keel over from the permethrin. Man, that stuff REALLY works! I am however slightly disappointed at my camera shots here. The overbrush killed any pretty views I could have gotten.
I did say the main trail wasn’t as difficult as I was expecting, however, I wasn’t counting the Challenge Trail. I was already 3 hours in and still had a 2 hour drive back ahead of me. Maybe next time! But I don’t know, that warning sign seems pretty detailed… lol
I had to stop at the Gregory House. I’m fascinated with antique houses and history. You can read more about it in the link above.
After my forest fun, I headed over to Saint Joseph Bay for Thanksgiving. Caught a few Trout and had some fun kayaking the bay.
Location: Tallulah Gorge State Park Address: 338 Jane Hurt Yarn Rd, Tallulah Falls, GA 30573 Telephone: (706) 754-7981 Lat/Long: 34.742746, -83.396459 Website: https://gastateparks.org/TallulahGorge/ Date: September 9th 2024 Hardware used for media: GoPro 10, Galaxy S22
Tallulah Gorge State Park was a scheduled pit stop on the way home from Tray Mountain Wilderness in September 2024. I’d highly recommend this park for a family day! I swung in the front office to learn more about the Gorge and grab some merch. Dropped everything in my truck and headed to the trail I only had time to complete the rim trail before heading back home. I want to go back and check out the trail that reaches the gorge floor!
The staircase down to the suspension bridge was a bit of a hike after spending the previous day on the trail, but easily manageable, even with kids, and I may be mistaken but I think I saw small dogs there as well. The climb back up wasn’t bad either and the view was spectacular!
To get across to the other end I had to walk under the overpass next to the dam due to the construction to meet with the north rim trail. I also ran over to the other side of the bridge to grab some pics and vids of the falls on the other side.
The north rim trail section back to the visitor center was fairly short, in all, the entire rim would take about 1.5 hours to complete, if you’re not stopping to take pictures or videos every five minutes. lol
Come take a walk with me around the Tallulah Gorge Rim Trail!
I had been planning for this trip for nearly a year, getting everything I needed to hike the wilderness for several days. I left around 3pm on September 5th and arrived at Dicks Creek Gap around midnight on September 6th. I will never again drive on mountain roads in the middle of the night, that was terrifying, and it didn’t help that there was a vehicle behind me trying to push me faster. It was pitch black, and once I was able to see how close the drop off was… Needless to say, the truck behind me was stuck doing the speed limit.
I spent the evening camping in the backseat of my truck (This was before my Roof Top Tent). The cars passing by every now and then kept me awake, plus I was excited to get on the trail. My trail guide, Bandit, came and picked me up (promptly I might add) and we rode over to Unicoi Gap where I was to start my first A.T. section. It was still dark so I waited around for about 20 or so minutes till the sun came up.
Literally 20 minutes into this section I started hearing some rustling in the woods. I stopped to look around and I see something off in the distance way up on a tree. IT WAS A BLACK BEAR! I tried to quickly grab my camera to get a few pics but only managed one. When maneuvering to grab a better picture my trek pole hit a rock and scared him away. So much so, he was down the tree and gone in seconds!
Even though I was training for about a year to start these sections, I was taken aback at how fast the elevation increased in such a short distance. The first 1-2 miles was a gradual assent, and this Floridians’ calves were already feelin it. The rocky path was beautiful. In Florida, we don’t have many rocks on our trails, only dirt and sand. I also came across a few primitive campsites along the way.
A few miles in, I was rewarded with a few stunning views. The openings were few and far between but when I found them, WOW! I couldn’t move away when I saw the first opening of a view of Tray Wilderness from the top of a mountain. I had to force myself to turn and keep hiking! *Holy crap, I just realized how much weight I’ve lost in a year.
The three images above this one were taken from this spot on the rocks facing left.
I made it to Tray Mountain shelter by around 1ish. But there was an issue on the ascent. An ankle injury I had in my mid-20’s started coming back in full force. I had been putting it off for a while thinking I could just “live with it”. I had a bone spur on my right ankle. Normally it never really bothered me much unless I was exercising heavily. And today was that day it decided to say NOPE! *rolls eyes*
I wound up trying to reach out to Bandit while sitting at Tray Mountain Shelter. Luckily he was able to come to get me immediately. I didn’t want to attempt the remaining section with my ankle the way it was. On the ride out he advised me that the remaining part of that section isn’t as bad as the first 3-4 miles. I’ll eventually finish that section and continue my A.T. trek. Below are a few other random images from this day.
Feel free to peruse my past adventures! My most recent post will always be shown however, you can use the links to the right (or below if viewing on a phone) to view my other adventures.
If you’re looking for serenity, I also have Relaxation and Time Lapse videos available in the top menu links.
