Georgia - Day 27 - in Tallulah Falls campground

Tallulah Falls State Park, Tallulah Falls

Monday, 24 April 2023

The signal my hotspot picked up here in the park was slow and spotty, so I had to finish the Savannah post in the word processing program.

It was chilly again this morning, like it was yesterday, and the forecast said a high of less than 70° today, but in the sunshine it felt warmer, so Dext and I tried to walk to one or more of the waterfalls.

At the visitor center yesterday, I tried to pick up the trail from there to one or two of the falls because it was paved and handicapped accessible.  My knee hasn't been feeling very strong these last few days and park information said there were hundreds of steps to get to viewpoints for some of the falls.

This is the map from yesterday's trip to the visitor center.

The path from the visitor center goes down to Hurricane Falls which can apparently be reached without climbing stairs.  But we have to walk through the visitor center to get to the path, which Dext isn't allowed to do.  The only other access is down a steep, definitely unpaved trail alongside the visitor center.  It would be doable if I were fit, but my knee just didn't feel up to it.

But I discovered the trail from the campground was also paved, so I figured this might be our way to see at least one of the waterfalls.  And off Dext and I went this morning.

After walking down and down and down steep paths, we got to a viewpoint.

The view from the viewpoint.

I'd hoped to be able to see the Tallulah River that creates the falls, but I guess I should have come a month earlier, before all this green stuff blocked the view.

Still, it looks very sylvan and pastoral as it is.

Then we turned to continue along the path and found a steep flight of stairs.

I wasn't sure I could even see the top, but I could see that there was no handrail.  Anything that we went up we'd have to go down on our return trip (and vice versa), and I definitely did not want to come down these stairs without a handrail.  Completely aside from the strain on my knee.  Plus Dexter isn't much for stairs these days either, so I reluctantly gave up on that idea.

Instead, I tried to get across to the other side of the river to follow the South Rim Trail, and we went back toward the signs.  But then we came to a sign pointing to an old iron staircase as being the access, and I didn't believe it.  I figured instead the sign must mean to follow the path farther on, where it went around a corner.  When we did that, we found the end of the path and a restroom and a road for cars without shoulders or any place that looked safe for pedestrians.  So I had to give up Plan B too.  Very disappointed.

There was a reason I didn't believe the sign about the iron staircase.  When we were on the first downhill path, we came to these signs:

I was completely willing to believe the warning on this sign.

You might just be able to see a paved path down below,
which I figured this trail was meant as a shortcut to.

The paved path was indeed where this trail ended up - I came to the other end of it down below.  But here's what was weird: at that other end was another official sign pointing directly to this unofficial trail and saying it was the route to the campground.

Well, it does lead to the campground, but so does the paved path which was just a little farther along.  And because I just couldn't believe they were really saying hikers should climb that unofficial hill - the one they told us to stay off of per that sign - but instead go farther along the paved path to take it to the campground, well, that's why I didn't believe the iron staircase bit.

Dext and I never did try the iron staircase (though it had a handrail) because it was a very steep staircase and I had no confidence that it would lead where we wanted to go.  But I did see another couple climb it as if that were a normal thing to do, so I suppose it really was the route to the South Rim.

A real shame because I was looking forward to seeing at least one of those falls.  I'll have to come back after I've had knee replacement surgery, I guess.

Still, it wasn't like we didn't still have a lot of exercise ahead of us.  The paved official path to the campground included 3 steep switchback sections.  Here are 2 of them:

As we were getting to the top of the last hill, struggling a little over the last section, we heard heavy machinery behind us.  And the sound got louder and louder - and it turned out to be a front-end loader following us up those steep hills.  I was seriously resentful of those workers for not climbing up the hill the way we had to.  Apparently the equipment was needed for some construction project in the campground.  It was sure loud, messing up the fairly pleasant nature walk we'd had.

Bucky in the foreground, Jimmy behind.

I took this photo to show how much bigger the kitties have gotten.  End to end, they're almost as long as my bed.  

That's their carrying case that they share every night, believe it or not.  I keep thinking I should pull out Lily's case so they can have more room to spread out on their own, but I keep on not doing it.  For one thing, they seem to be just fine with nestling with each other each night.  And for another, they've slept together in this case every night for almost their whole lives and I think it's likely a comfort to them.  And besides, when we have bad weather, or when Dext sets off the carbon monoxide alarm and it beeps loudly, they have each other right there for reassurance.  I suppose when they get to their full size, those things will be less important than just having enough room to stretch out in.  But for right now, that's what we're doing.

The kittens, especially Bucky, now think the litter box is a playground - like a children's sand box.  One of them will get in there and throw or kick out half the kitty litter completely unrelated to actual box use.  After I get tired of listening to it and come in to check things out, there'll be a big pile of kitty litter in the shower stall (which of course I've covered with thick plastic) that I have to put back in again.  Kitty litter is too expensive to be a toy.  

In the alternative, one of them - again usually Bucky - will climb onto the cardboard box of kitty litter and attack it to try to get it open and, if they can (which they have) they'll spread it all around - or tump it over to get the same result.  Grr.  

I really can't wait till they grow up and just lie around and sleep and let me pat them.  Lily does the lying around and sleeping part but rarely lets me pat her, so I'm trying to train the kitties to enjoy being stroked.