The other day, I introduced y’all to Val from Val in Real Life. Refresh your memory, if need be— But, I’m revisiting some of her favorite Georgia destinations, this first week of July. Earlier, this week, we found this outdoor mama’s Top 5 Atlanta Attractions for families. Now, we’re going to places she REALLY loves…. places outside where she and her family have enjoyed connecting with Georgia’s nature.
Cloudland Canyon State Park
Aside from scenic overlooks, the trails here are amongst my favorites. I could spend days exploring all of the nuances of Sitton’s Gulch in particular. The rim trails give excellent views of the canyon walls and, in fact, have you treading upon the the very rocks that make up those walls so you get to see them up close and personal. There are exposed boulders rife with crevices and cracks to explore the rocky goodness. (Sorry… a little bit of latent geologist just slipped out.)
Amicalola Falls State Park
in terms of activities. Beyond hiking and geocaching, there’s typically all kinds of crafts, animal talks, and that sort of thing planned by the very knowledgeable park staff. The visitor center has a nice collection of snakes, there’s a junior ranger program, and it also happens to be the jumping off point for the Appalachian Trail as well as the Len Foote Hike Inn which I’ve mentioned before. All sorts of groovy.
Vogel State Park
Even with that little detour, we managed to get to Vogel in the early afternoon. And we wanted as much time as possible because it’s a faboo place criss-crossed with delightful babbling creeks. The bulk of the campsites back up to one creek or another so there’s opportunity aplenty for wet, muddy fun right in your back yard so to speak.