Trip Report: High Falls State Park, Georgia

Radio · 08-19-2008, 08:54 PM

Getting there, setting up, and being very still and quiet

This park is only about an hours drive from our house. Perfect for a long weekend just before my son Matt returns to GA TECH for his last semester befre graduation! Knew he'd be too busy to go anywhere until Christmas so we wanted to spend our time camping and not riding up and down the road.

I left work early Thursday evening and beat the traffic home. The trailer was packed and ready to go. Matt was in charge of rounding up and laying in supplies and did a pretty good job.

Since getting the trailer home I have been doing some small mods and making checklists. Checklists are a wonderfull thing as they take the stress out of moving the RV from point A to point B and setting up and tearing down. We had everything ready and rolled out the drive about 6:15 pm. And then about a mile down the road realized I had not put the towing mirrors on the truck! A call to Sweet Wife (who was sitting this trip out) and a few minutes sitting in a school parking lot and we were again on our way, this time with 20/20 hindsight.

Arrived at High Falls about 7:15. Met by very friendly hosts. Park nearly empty. Had our pick of just about any spot we wanted so we meandered up to "D" loop which is new, spacious with lots of pull through sites. And just about no shade. The rest of the campground is older and most sites are either smallish or hard to get into or both. All very neat and clean, recently revamped by Georgia DNR.

8:00 pm finds us all set up (using checklists again). Having worked all day and the commuted and then towed for an hour, I'm hungry and tired. We elect to boil hot dogs on the stove. I made a cucumber and tomato salad fresh from our own garden. (do THAT in your hotel room) We settled down for the night and Matt tried out the inflateable hide-a-bed for the first time. We plan an early rise to catch good morning light to do some photography.

Breakfast was eggs scrambeld with some SPAM, onions and mushrooms. Matt wasn't too excited about my menu selection but changed his mind after having a few bites. Why does SPAM only taste good when your out camping?

About 8:30 am we quietly sneak the truck down to the riverside parking area and begin to explore. If you can't find a photograph at High Falls then you need to see you eye guy.

I have only one roll of film and blow through it fairly quick. Matt is a beginner at what we refer to as "real photography" (using a full manual SLR film camera) and had been reading a lot of my old photography books, with an emphasis on composition. He says he's only taken 6 photos. Hmmm? OK, I find myself a perch on a nice comfy rock and Matt wanders off to find his pictures.

Now alone and still, and out of film, I begin to see the true beauty of Creation at High Falls. Sitting in this one place I begin to see composition after composition. The more I just sit and look and be still and quiet, the more I see. The ancient rocks, the new crop of tiny frogs bouncing around my feet, the long legged crane out on the schoals in the middle of the Towaliga River. I returned to that rock later and took the attached photographs from atop it. I never moved more that 6 feet to make all of them (and more). It's amazing what you can see if you just sit still...and look.

The adventure continues tomorrow...

**Bama Rambler** · 08-20-2008, 06:32 AM

There's true beauty at every place you go if you'll sit still and let IT find you. Great photos. You did a wonderful job of capturing it. They should use a few of those photos on the website.

aintgotnun · 08-20-2008, 08:46 AM

Nice pics Wade

naganthunter · 08-20-2008, 02:46 PM

WOW! Beautiful photos. I'm finding myself very jealous, especially as I've been sitting in a windowless, concrete basement training room for meetings the last 3 days!

powerboatr · 08-20-2008, 03:02 PM

great pics, the falls are

i still use a REAL camera to

tomkaren · 08-20-2008, 05:01 PM

Great Pictures! We are planning on a Scenery trip to Georgia in October. Sounds like a stopover.

Radio · 08-20-2008, 08:33 PM

The Plumber, the Locksmith, and Me.

It wasn't too hot my August in Georgia standards, but it sure was humid. Matt complained his glasses fogged over when he tried to focus his camera and the sweat just would not evaporate from your body. I had wondered where all my socks, t-shirts and undies had gotten off too, and found them all in the trailer. (Way too many! Ever do that? Keep loading the RV and never unload it?) This was a good thing after all, because just a little bit of afternoon outdoor activity left me soaking wet with sweat. Just about the time I want to take a really nice shower I hear a knock at the door. It's our friendly campground host:

"We have a water leak. We can't locate the shut off valve so we have to turn the water off to all of 'Loop D' so the plumbers can work on it. And that includes the bathhouse"

The water was back on about four hours later. Quite a little hike to the nearest bathhouse. If I had had a little warning I could have put 10 gallons in the fresh tank. Bummer.

Spent the evening light on the other side of the Towaliga River. Captured a few more photographs.

When Camping World had the Coleman Road Trip Sport Grill on sale for $100 I picked one up. I tried it out when we were on the way back from Ohio, and wasn't impressed with the way it cooked no name WalMart burgers. On this trip I try it out again with 'Bubba Burgers'...a known quantity at our house. Nope. I just don't like the way the burgers taste when they are done. I guess I'll go back to charcoal. The LP gas grill at home makes good burgers. What's up with this??

One of the things I like to do in a campground is take a nightly 'walking survey' to see all the rigs and tacky lights and campfires and families out having fun. Just after dark but well before quiet time or there wouldn't be anything to see. Matt and I head out about 9:15 pm and get back about 10:15. The key I just locked the door with an hour ago will not fit back into the lock. All of our cell phones, wallets, cash etc are all INSIDE the trailer. All I have is this useless door key, and the key to the truck. We give up on getting in without help.

We drive up, slowly and quietly, to see the campground hosts. Their lights are still on. Good. We knock on the door and explain our situation.

The hosts calls the ranger,
the ranger calls the sherrif,
the sherrif calls the 24 hour on call locksmith,
who doesn't work on RVs but knows someone who does,
so the 1st locksmith calls the other,
who calls the sherrif,
that calls the ranger
who tells me the guy will be there in 10 minutes.

The ranger goes up to the gate to lead the guy back to our site. Now I'm getting a bit concerned about the amount of vehicle traffic around our site, with me come and going, the ranger in and out with "Law Enforcement" in big black letter on his truck and now the locksmith on his way.

Right on time, he shows up with the ranger, again, in a Chevy Suburban with not one muffler on it.

I appologized to my neighbors who claim they heard nothing because they were all watching the Olympics with their air conditioners on.

What an adventure.

More later.

SwensonBarrettBunch · 08-20-2008, 09:12 PM

I did not realize you were so close. We are in Gainesville. We went to Tallulah Gorge State park this weekend. That is a beautiful place as well. we do a lot of camping in the N Georgia mountains.

**Bama Rambler** · 08-21-2008, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radio

The Plumber, the Locksmith, and Me.

Right on time, he shows up with the ranger, again, in a Chevy Suburban with not one muffler on it.

I appologized to my neighbors who claim they heard nothing because they were all watching the Olympics with their air conditioners on.

What an adventure.

More later.

But did you get the door open??

The first photo is my favorite. I can feel a calmness come over me just looking at it here at work. I can imagine how it was actually sitting there. Thanks much.

Radio · 08-21-2008, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bama Rambler

But did you get the door open??

Yes. He spent some time trying to "pick" the lock. I had to explain to him, twice, this was not a lockout. This was a malfunctioning lock and I have the key here in my hand.

Eventually he lost his patience with the thing and jammed a screwdriver in the thing and waggled it back and forth to free the stuck tumber that was blocking the key.

That fixed it. I'm talking with the dealer about a new lockset.

**Bama Rambler** · 08-21-2008, 05:52 PM

Too bad about the whole lock incident. There was a post a while back about those locks. They stick quite often. The trick was to put the key in and bump the end with a hammer. it supposedly frees the stuck tumbler(s).

Lot of good that does you now huh??

Radio · 08-21-2008, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bama Rambler

Too bad about the whole lock incident. There was a post a while back about those locks. They stick quite often. The trick was to put the key in and bump the end with a hammer. it supposedly frees the stuck tumbler(s).

Lot of good that does you now huh??

Tried that. Na-da.

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