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Raven Cliff Falls Trail - 6-30-07
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jekerl
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07/01/2007 06:46 PM
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Raven Cliff Falls Trail
June 30, 2007
A 7:00 am start isn’t too early is it? It’s at least a 2 hour drive to the trailhead and there was breakfast somewhere along the way to be eaten. Speaking of breakfast, Cleveland, GA is host to a very amazing restaurant called Glenda’s. As we drove past we noticed the full parking lot and the line of drive through traffic. This must be the place! After circling around the very historic town center and heading back we were amazingly rewarded for our effort. Breakfast sandwiches for under $ 4.00 and gravy soo good they sell it by the quarts or gallons! French toast with just a “hint” of cinnamon okay it was loaded with it. Very good if you are a cinnamon fan.
Then on to the train head. As is required by most trips made to the wilderness for the first time we had some direction issues. After a minor detour, and a re-read of the instructions we were back on track and parking at the trail head by 9:45am. The parking lot was covered in ruff stones, not very good for bare feet and the park rangers had a fine (FEMA) trailer setup with a very loud generator not the most peaceful start. As we crossed the road and into the woods the sound of the generator dissipated. Instead a rich forest floor greeted us with the sound of the creak through out the complete trail. Every fall area that we passed we would detour down to the water and I would wine about getting tin the water, but my other hikers were the voice of reason and we just kept moving up the trail. The water play can wait for the trip back. The 2.4 miles in was a pretty easy hike. I’m ashamed to say, though, we were passed by a group of 20 something’s (yes cute) and an uber family (very outdoorsy, healthy group). When you finally get up to the cliffs you still want more and for the ore adventurous of us there is a minor clay hill and then a root ladder to the tope of the cliffs. It’s a little daunting, but gave us an opportunity to get some scrambling in. We went half way up were there is a cool ledge with some major line tie offs for repelling or climbing the cliff. When we got back to the base of the cliff we changed over to swim shorts and started the water part of the hike. Yes the water was cold, but it did get okay once you were completely in. To the back left of the pool is an opening / split in the cliffs and the location of the 50 – 80 foot water fall. With some scrambling up the rocks you are able to reach the base of the waterfall. It’s amazing, cold and the water picks like hell, but its very refreshing. We played with some newts and some craw fish that were trying to avoid us and chatted with the assortment of people that showed up to these this great spot. After soaking until we had enough and munching down on some jerky and fruit we started back down the trail with the next water fall as our destination. There appeared to be some great access to direct water fall contact and we were correct. Laying in the falls was a full body message experience it took your breath away at first but as you were able to relax into it it was heaven. We spend quite a while here it was a climb to get down to the water so there were not a lot of other people around. So lounging in the shallows and getting sun was possible without lots of interruptions. There was one more fall that we wanted to check out so we packed up again and continued back down. There was one diversion along the way, lets just say the “wild life” was particularly beautiful on this day. Nothing hotter than a stud of a man doing the towel short change in full view! Woof! Any how .. we make it down to the last fall we wanted to check out. There are little post of water along the path of the fall and if they were HOT water they would be great. They were quite cold. My two co-hikers had decided to leaver the water exploration to me, that was until I stumbled upon a water slide on the smooth rocks of the fall and a deep pond at the bottom. That was all it took, they were in. Getting back up the fall was a little tuff, until we found the best path, then it was a all on. We even entertained some other hiders passing by as we spastically slid down the fall they got quite a laugh, we had a great day! We were off the trail by 16:30 .. It was a long day!
My muscles hurt today, but it’s that good hurt of knowing you worked yourself well the day before.
I posted a few photo's
We will be planning another adventure in two weeks. Details will be posted, all are welcome .. it will be a good time!
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