Ahhh, football season in the South. The most wonderful time of the year. It's also the best time of the year for hiking. While I really do enjoy watching college football, I feel guilty wasting weekends when the leaves are changing colors and the weather is usually quite nice. So I make up for it by trying to hike on Sundays, when pro football is on. Just don't really have any interest in the Falcons or any other pro team, except for sporadic moments when former UGA players are doing well on whatever team they happen to be playing on at the moment. This is a win/win because James loves pro ball and tries to avoid hiking whenever possible hah.
So the week of September 11 we had, well, an issue with a tropical storm (Irma- die b*tch) and it rained for several days. We lost power. Lots of trees down. Overall a bad week. By the weekend, I was completely stressed from work and really wanted to get outside. Learning opportunity- I was so wrapped up in my own world, I didn't realize how extensive the storm damage was in the mountains and I didn't think to check. I planned to hike the section of the Appalachian Trail that crosses Blue Mountain and drove up there and started hiking only to find huge sections of the trail were completely blocked by trees and washed out. I don't hike by myself very often and while I am not afraid to, I am clumsy. I started climbing over trees and roots and fell, so I decided to turn back. I drove around aimlessly for a while enjoying the scenery but ultimately wanted to do something. So I took quite a detour and went to Toccoa Falls.
There's really no hiking required to see Toccoa Falls, just a nice stroll down a gravel path. Park near the bookstore and pay admission (I think it was $5) at the bookstore cashier. Dogs are allowed but I left mine at home. Even though it was a beautiful afternoon, there were only a handful of people there. It was very peaceful and pretty. We don't live very far away so I'm ashamed we haven't been here before. So even though my initial plan to hike a 4000+ mountain off my list didn't happen, I had an enjoyable afternoon sitting next to a pretty waterfall.
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