Rabun Bald Trail
Sunday, September 05, 2004
Being the labour day weekend, I
wanted to get into the woods since I hadn't done so for quite some time
now. The new students coming this fall seem to be keen on trekking and
wanted to go with me as well. Well, since there were couple of novice
trekkers, I was being cautious not to choose a lengthy trek.
In the end, I ended up choosing Rabun Bald for our trekking. The information on the
net about this trek is a bit misleading. Most the trekking sites
categorized the trail as "strenuous" (the one linked doesn't say so).
However, we were in fact disappointed when we reach the top since it
took us just over an hour to get to the top (2 miles). However, the
fire tower at the top presented an excellent view of the surrounding
region. (Supposedly we can see the three states of Tennessee, Georgia
and South Carolina, but I couldn't make out where is each since I
didn't had a compass :) ).
The trek as such was really nice with
lots of shade all along and small wild flowers blooming all the way
along. The trek was a bit crowded too (since it being the labour day
weekend). But it was fun to be with lots of groups at the fire tower.
We had a lot of funs with the dogs the groups had got with them.
Since we returned back to the base
around mid afternoon, we decided to try out Tallulah gorge trail on our
way back. We couldn't get permits to get to the bottom of the gorge and
also since half of us had already done that trail (and though
scenic, it was mostly comprised of climbing flights of steps) we wanted
to know if there was something else. At the visitor center we were told
that there is this North rim trail that goes along the Tallulah river
and that cool too. It was a good decision since we were not really in a
mood to climb since we had our lunch at the fire tower and had a break
in the exertion during our traveling back from Rabun Bald to Tallulah Gorge State
Park. The trail is a flat one
that goes along the Tallulah river and we had a good time with lots of
chatting and laughing (Me and Nilesh did most of the laughing, with
others wondering what are we laughing at :) ).
Suggestion - I wouldn't recommend
Rabun Bald trail to anyone if they are for serious hike. Of course if
you can car pool and take another of the point-to-point trail to the
top then it would be good (around 14 miles of hiking in that case :) ).
However, you can combine Tallulah Gorge trail with the North rim trail
for some fun day-long activity.
Photos
back to trek page
| Home