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On Tuesday, April 24th, the weather looked beautiful and promised a great day for riding. Fred and I decided to visit Amicalola State Park and Falls, located to the west of Helen along Hwy-52 between Ellijay and Dawsonville, Georgia. The following map shows the route we took on our tour. (Click on the map to enlarge.)
The route Fred and I took on our tour to Amicalola State Park and Falls
Along the way, we stopped first at Brasstown Bald, the highest natural point in the state of Georgia with a summit elevation of 4,784 feet, located just off Hwy-180 on Hwy-180-Spur. Since the road to the observation tower was not open, we could only go as high as the parking area at 4,300 feet elevation. Although the view from the parking area was nice, the many trees obscured the view to the east. While there, we met a group of young Indian students, who were enamored with my motorcycle. I let each of them pose on it for pictures. It really seemed to make their day. Unfortunately I didn’t think to take pictures of them.
When we reached the Amicalola State Park, we stopped in the visitors center to pay admission and to learn about the options. We decided to head first to the Amicalola Lodge for the nice lunch buffet. After then taking several photos in and around the lodge, we returned to the upper Falls parking lot and walked down the 425 steps to the viewing area. Going down the staircase was easy, returning was strenuous and we both needed to stop frequently to catch our breath and to rest.
After returning to our motorcycles, we rode to the Reflecting Pond at the base of the Falls. The foliage obscured all but a small portion of the Falls from this location. My photo of the Falls below (2nd to last) is a telephoto peek through an opening in the trees and then magnified on the computer.
Just before 4 PM we finished our visit to the Amicalola State Park and Falls and headed back towards Helen via Hwy-52 through Dahlonega and Hwy-115 through Cleveland. After we returned to Helen, we went out for dinner and tried out a couple German beers at the Old Heidelberg. It was a nice day and I enjoyed Fred’s company.
During the day’s outing, we stopped on several occasions to take photos of the scenery. These are the ones I took.
Here are four photos taken by Fred during our ride to Amicalola State Park
Please continue reading Day #7 on this page.