Georgia - Amicalola State Park and the Appalachian Trail Approach

The idea of my southern states road trip during COVID-19 was that throughout the trip, I would be able to stay in my campervan and limit contact with other people. I didn’t figure on Georgia getting record low temperatures. I woke up one night in the campervan to 34 degrees, and it was COLD!! My original plan had been to camp at the Amicalola Falls State Park for two nights, and one of those days, I would drive to the start of the Appalachian Trail.

Things didn’t really work that way.

Because it was so cold, I extended my time in Atlanta and stayed in a hotel there. That was nice, since one of those nights was the night of the presidential election, and I had fun going between CNN and Fox News to see how Biden and Trump were doing. But, because of that, I only had a day at Amicalola Falls State Park. With the limited time, my idea was to just visit the falls, then do a hike on the Appalachian Trail, from the remote trailhead up on Springer Mountain – the actual START of the AT.

I got to the park early and went straight to the visitor center. I asked for directions to the parking lot for the start of the Appalachian Trail, and they gave me a WHOLE sheet of directions, that talked about unmarked, unpaved forest roads, and seemed really complicated. Once you find the parking spot, the start of the trail is another 0.9 miles of hiking. I decided pretty quickly that that was an all-day type activity, and something that should probably NOT be done alone – I decided not to chance getting lost in the middle of nowhere.

Instead, I opted for a longer hike at the Amicalola Falls State Park. I parked near the top of the falls and headed out. The falls are REALLY impressive, and on one side of the falls, there are ove4 400 steps to get down to the bottom. I ended up hiking down the steps, back to the visitor center, then up the falls on the other side. It was a nice hike, but the third one-mile uphill hike in three days. My legs were sore for days! The waterfall was great!

Just behind the Visitor Center is the start of the Appalachian Trail Approach Trail. Apparently, lots of AT hikers start at the Amicalola Falls State Park, and just hike the 8 miles to the start of the trail. The second half of my look around the falls was the first mile of the AT Approach Trail. That would have to do for now.