This past weekend Steve and I did a short (one night) backpacking trip to Tallulah Gorge, Georgia with the Meetup group. Tallulah Gorge is where the "Flying Wallendas" did a famous walk across the canyon without any safety gear, setting a new Guinness world record. We didn't actually get a great look at the Gorge, or make the hike to the river at the bottom, but it was a beautiful area.
As we were getting our backcountry permits, the park ranger was telling us to expect bears and coyotes, making is sound like they were going to be practically in out campsite. We didn't see or hear either, which was a little disappointing. There were 8 of us on the trip - four of whom hadn't ever been backpacking before. It was really fun, despite the heat (mid-90s during the day) and a big thunderstorm on Saturday afternoon. We were camped about 100 yards above a gorgeous, secluded lake, so we went swimming to beat the heat and wash off some of the trail grime.
There was a permanent shelter at the backcountry site, with a raised floor, roof, and three walls. It came in very handy as we sat out the late afternoon storm and roasted marshmallow peeps over the camp stove. Because it was still pretty warm outside and there was little level ground to be found, most of us slept in the shelter without tents. I was really surprised that the bugs (mosquitos or anything else creepy and crawly) didn't attack us at all that night. We had a blast, and it was nice to get outside in the "wild" for even a short trip. I hope we can do more trips like it this fall as the weather cools down a bit.
Here's a few more pictures...Tori, Gina, and Louella taking a break in the shelter to avoid the rain. They are all from Savannah and hadn't been backpacking before. They were really fun and I hope we see them on another trip sometime.
Our new friend Beth digging into a freshly roasted peep.
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