Gorged!

I arrived at the camp Saturday morning and we immediately headed off for a hike around the Tallulah Gorge. After our hike, we headed into the visitor's center to get our permits to enter the gorge floor. Hiking down into the gorge seems very controlled. There are a lot of signs up warning you not to go until you have a permit. Getting a permit just required some info like who to contact if they find your dead body the next morning, etc. . . You also had to listen to a ranger read the rules to you before they handed over the slip of paper. The three of us got our permits and immediately headed out . . . to lunch.

We left the park and went up to Dillard, Ga to visit the Dillard House. Wow! This is the only restaurant I have visited with no menu. We got seated at this busy restaurant within five minutes. Within the five minutes after getting seated, they started bringing out the food. Plate after plate was sat onto our table until not another one would fit. Some of the items they brought to our table were fried chicken, ribs, beans, fried okra, country fried steak, and potatoes. Oh! I can't forget the plate of collard greens. I have never had any before and they didn't look that good. Greens always look like steamed lettuce to me, so I passed it over to Rake who loaded some onto his own plate. After a few minutes of urging me, I finally agreed to try a piece. I scraped out the smallest piece and cut it in half. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. It was much sweeter than I would have ever thought. They were good, and a few minutes later I went after some more.

While we were eating, we all observed how efficient the dining area was run. We timed one table as the customers got up and left. Two minutes later the table had been cleared, set with clean plates, and then seated with more customers. People were walking in every direction. As an observer, it looked like chaos. Chaos or not, every request we made to the waitress was answered quickly and with a smile. After we gorged ourselves on the great meal, we had dessert, and then dragged ourselves back to the car.

We briefly visited the Goats on the Roof store that actually had goats on their roof before getting back to the park.

As we started our way into the gorge, the park had filled up to the point that people were parking along the side of the road.

Approximately 600 stair steps after we had started, we reached the floor. Hurricane falls was to our left and the river continued to our right. The only way across the river was a random series of rocks and boulders that required you to jump, crawl, or get wet as you went. There were a lot of people crossing both directions when we arrived so Roadrunner and I perched on a ledge out of the way and watched. Rake went into the middle and was helping people cross. A few made it with dry feet, but almost everyone we watched fell into the water. The water was cold and moving fast. I decided I didn't trust my ability to jump rock to rock, so I removed my socks and shoes. I waded across the largest gap, standing on partial submerged stones. Roadrunner followed me. At this moment I can't remember how Rake made it. I looked up and he was at the other side.

The trail along the river was an awesome adventure. We climbed and jumped our way down stream until we reached Bridal Veil falls. After Rake was done photographing a group of college girls, we challenged him to go down sliding rock and into the water. It was a cold day and he didn't look real excited about the idea. A few minutes later a naked man showed up and sat at the top of sliding rock. He wasn't REALLY naked, but that's what we called him for the duration of our trip. Naked man slid down and splashed into the pool. Better him then me!

On our way out, Roadrunner got trapped on the top side of a very steep slope. He yelled down to us, "How did I get myself up here?" and Rake responded, "Poor choices!"

At the river crossing, I looked up at the observation platform and noticed a group of people doing nothing but taking pictures of the people falling into the water. As I removed my shoes, I thought about a picture of me splashing into the water ending up in someones vacation photos.

It was only a staircase of 600 steps long to the top and we were exhausted after about 200 of those steps. I climbed a flight ahead of the guys as they took a break. When I turned back to take a photo of them, a man tried to get his wife out of my photo. I told her not to worry about it. I said, "I'm just trying to get a shot to remember those guys. I'm not sure they'll make it up."

Rake made a great dinner for us back at camp and RoadRunner helped with dessert. "Put it in the stove at 350 degrees for thirty minutes." We all kind of looked at each other before putting it on the fire. We played some cards until it became too cold to be away from the fire. Around the fire we shared some ultra scary ghost stories before heading off to bed.

This is the point of the story when I froze half to death. I don't think my sleeping bag is rated for temperatures below 75 and it was near freezing through the night. When the sun came up, I crawled outside where Rake had restarted the fire. The camp chef created some tasty omelets before we started off on our final adventure of the weekend.

Roadrunner put his car in 4-wheel drive and we followed the GPS maps onto a little used road. At one point we thought the road had ended, but we found it hiding among some trees. The "road" was narrow and tight between the trees. As he drove his new vehicle deeper into the woods, we heard the branches screeching along the shiny paint. I was laughing, Rake was laughing, Roadrunner was crying.

We had to reverse out of that road that we now believe was probably private property. Ooops!

The three of us had a great time camping at the Tallulah Gorge this past weekend and I have some memories I won't forget for a very long time. Thanks for the adventure, guys! Be sure to read the blogs of Rake and RoadRunner as well.

One more thing: Rake, I didn't do it. -