Tall tales,short tales ,and 1 or 2 lies .: Minihaha/BRMSP ramble

6-8-15

Minihaha Falls here I come !! I even had directions written down . With mileages to the turning points . Right there on the front seat beside me . Well.... you guessed it . Haha . The directions I had were lacking in one small area . The name of the road you turned on to get to the road the falls are on . I figured it out about five miles later and pulled a u turn . When you see the Lake Seed dam turn left if you are going west . Then turn on Bear Gap Road . No , I won't tell you the name of the road . Don't want to spoil your adventure .

You still have to keep your eyes peeled for the post/sign/ stairs . They are on the right and the small pull off is on the right . If you are as observant as I am , you can always back up after you miss the pull off .

After the first couple of steps , it's not too bad . BTW . If you don't use hiking sticks or a walking staff , this would be a great place to start using them .

The path goes through tunnels of mountain laurel and rhododendron . If I remember correctly (another haha ) laurel leaves are short and the rhodies are long . They were both beautiful . Factoid . Rhododendrons are poisonous . Do not use for firewood .

There are quite a few small cascades along the path as you follow the creek up to the falls . Use caution if you go down to them . It's slicker than owl snot on some of the side paths .

The falls are about as picturesque as you could ask for . There is one lone tree you may have to work around to get the picture that you want . There was one other fellow hiker on this day and we both spent a while just enjoying the solitude and the sounds of the waterfall .

Like I mentioned earlier hiking sticks or a walking staff are real good for this spot . As you can see , the spray from the waterfall keeps the ground and slick rocks pretty wet . Also the mass of tree roots make for great toe busters that can easily turn into butt busters .

I see a lot of pictures that show the water as a flowing milky white sheet . I may try for a few of these but mostly I kind of like to see the drops , drips , and splashes .

Next up was a side trip to the Moccasin Creek S P area . Another u turn got me on Wildcat Creek Road . The ride up Wildcat Creek made this look like a prime trout fishing spot but I bet it is slammed on weekends with folks enjoying the sliding rock .

Moccasin Creek S P was a lot smaller than I had imagined . Fairly crowded and not spread out as is usual with Georgia's great State Park system . The trout hatchery next door is ok if you have kids to take fishing . If you have been to the CNF hatchery on Rock Creek , you may give this one a pass .

There is another waterfall in this area but it was getting hot and I wanted to get cooled off at Black Rock Mountain S P , the highest S P in Georgia . I stopped at Ingle's deli and bought a late lunch and a jug of sweet tea . There is a picnic shelter by the visitor center where I ate . The views here are long range and magnificent .

One more haha for the day's ramble . I asked the lady Ranger in the visitor center for directions to the park's waterfall . After taking a gander at my Santa Claus like physique , she told me it wasn't a regular waterfall per se but more like a rock wall with a little water running down it . She added that some folks were a bit disappointed after seeing it .

It's only a quarter mile , right ? Right ... haha ... LMAO !!! At least the lmao was probably what she did after I left .

I didn't count the steps on the way down . I did on the long climb back up . There are 150 or so . Where there aren't stairs , there could be . I'm guessing they figured they didn't want to compete with Tallulah Gorge for the most steps . Or have to put up cardiac warning signs .

I had to think hard about putting pics of the ''waterfall '' in this ramble . I certainly don't want to discourage anyone from seeing them in person .

On a very odd side note , I had ample time to concoct an easier way back to the top . But only in my mind . Take off all my clothes , throw them in the bushes , and wait on the next set of tourists to report the insane nekkid man at the bottom of the trail . Surely the Rangers would carry me back up .