We'd planned to stay home this weekend to finish the baseboards on the new floor. But when we realized that I had piano students coming on Monday, and that we'd be staying home that day, we decided to go out today and wait to do the baseboards on Monday. But where to go?
Fortunately, there's a handy website, atlantatrails.com. We found a waterfall with a fairly easy hike-- a mile in, a mile out. Awesome-- time to feed the chickens, pack snacks, don swimsuits (or quick-drying clothing), and hit the road.
The only problem was this: the trail website didn't mention that any road that begins with "FS" (forest service) is probably going to be gravel. We realized this as we turned on to FS 28-1. We were on that fairly well-maintained road before turning on to the kicker: Winding Stair Gap Road. This was what seemed like an eternity of crawling miles of gravel and rocks-- some larger and randomly placed throughout the road, perhaps waiting on the rain to erode them? Another left onto a forestry service road that was mostly mud made me wonder why we had attempted this in a minivan. It sounded like a shallow stream bed as we drove. A quick tire check revealed that the mud wasn't actually caking to the tires. That was some special mud.
Did I mention that it is highly recommended to use written directions when finding this place? Somehow, Google maps and the GPS knew where the trailhead was and didn't lose track of us. We made a couple of wrong, but easily fixed turns. At this moment, I can't even find the trailhead using a Google maps search on my computer. Okay- I finally found it by using the terms, "Three Forks Recreation Area."
We passed mostly 4x4 trucks and a couple SUV's by pulling over so the other could pass. Thankfully, as we got closer to the falls, we saw several compact cars parked that were clearly two-wheel drive. There was hope for us getting out of there without a come-along. My jaw started to unclench. It had been thirty miles, and an hour and a half from pavement.
The falls were not much to write about, but there was a nice, surefooted stretch beside them that the kids could easily climb. There weren't too many people there- one lovey-dovey couple who gave us plenty of amusement with their duck-lipped selfie-taking obsession. It was a decent way to spend an hour and a half. We might have spent too much time discussing our amazement with our abilities to help our children relieve themselves in natural surroundings-- without traumatizing the children. Success.
One more success-- Long Creek at the trailhead was abundant in salamanders, which you might know are some of Bubby and Cutie's favorite creatures to find. New Daddy chased one down and snapped a picture of Cutie holding it.
When the sun peeked out from the clouds, it made a rainbow at the bottom of the falls.
It was quite a challenge getting a serious shot out of this bunch!
But I think this one captures their individual personalities pretty well :).
The ones responsible for this adventure
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