Friday, May 24, 2019

Goodby CEDAR KEY * Hello HIKE INN & Appalachian Trail

Geni and I reluctantly leave our paradise and our awesome sunsets at Cedar Key, FL. We headed out on  April 29th and drove a few hours north and stayed the night at High Falls State Park in Georgia. Its a small but beautiful campground located just south of Atlanta, GA., The falls and roaring river are outstanding and very relaxing after driving 300 miles or so!
LINK: https://gastateparks.org/HighFalls/
We headed out early in the Morning to try to miss the mayham of driving thru downtown Atlanta. Good idea, but it didn't work, downtown Atlanta Georgia is the most difficult driving you can imagine , bumper to bumper and 10 lanes of trucks,cars,bikes etc.

We did finally make it to our destination at Amicalola falls state park in Northern Georgia.
LINK: https://gastateparks.org/AmicalolaFalls
We picked this park because it is the Southern termis of the two thousand two hundred mile Appalachian Hiking Trail.
LINK: https://appalachiantrail.org/

I have hiked the Appalachian with my Brother in Law Dave many times in my youth, we have hiked over 200 miles of it in Virginia, Tennessee, and Northern Georgia and always wanted to see the end of it! There also is a 5 mile hike in lodge that we made reservations for a night.
LINK: http://hike-inn.com/

The hike in to the lodge was not that bad, many small ups and downs and it took us a little over 3 hours to reach the lodge, we were the first ones to arrive so for a short time we had the place to ourselves! There is also a Lodge located in Smoky Mt. National park call Mt Leconte Lodge that we have stayed at, is also a 5 mile hike in but it is straight up and up and very strenuous. Both lodges serve gourmet dinners and breakfasts and both are first class! These are both awesome places to hike and get away from the crowds and I highly recommend both lodges!
Leconte Lodge LINK: http://www.highonleconte.com/

                                                                                
Goodbye AWESOME SUNRISES

Goodbye AWESOME SUNSETS at Tiki Bar


High Falls State Park Georgia

Appalachian Trail Georgia

The start of our journey to Hike Inn



Beautiful view points along the 5 mile trail

We made it! The Hike Inn is totally solar

The Inn has 20 of these bunk rooms available

Hallway of showers

Dinning Room

Solar kitchen


Relax in the wood stove room with music, games, puzzles


View from wood stove room

Back of lodge , you can see the solar panels on the roof

Spring equinox stones that line up the sun into the tunnel ever spring!


The start of the AT in Georgia, Maine is 2,191 miles away!

Our old friend Steve from working in Yellowstone 2017 paid us a visit at the State park