Cloudland Canyon is in the northwest part of Georgia. (It is very close to Chattanooga, Tennessee). My sister suggested it as a great spot to have a birthday celebration for my Dad. (He turns 86 tomorrow!) After we got back this weekend, I called him in the evening and asked him if he had enjoyed our trip. My Dad in his direct, straight- to -the point way said, "It was PERFECT".
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| They don't call it Cloudland Canyon for nothing! |
Cloudland Canyon truly is a unique spot. It is the only spot in Georgia that is part of the Cumberland Plateau If you visit there, you will scarcely believe you are in the state of Georgia, it looks more like something from out West. The rocky ridges around the gorge have cascading waterfalls and
if you climb down 600 metal steps that have been placed on the side of the gorge, you will be rewarded by not one but TWO waterfalls. (Remember that is 600 steps down and 600 steps back UP, which means they have signs warning you not to try it if you are not physically fit.) I took my Arabia Mountain-trained legs and hiked the West Rim Canyon Trail and after that, I still did those 1200 steps to the waterfalls! Whew! I'll be honest, it wasn't easy, but I am happy to say that I survived to tell the tale! The nice thing, there is a beautiful waterfall which is only steps away from the parking lot which is in the picnic area (it is near the Interpretive Center), and my Dad was able to walk there to the edge of the gorge and see this magnificent sight!
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| Waterfalls Easily Seen From Top of Ridge |
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| Flowers Right Outside Our Cabin! |
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Cherokee Falls - 60 Feet High |
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| Looking Into The Gorge From The West Rim Trail |
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| Hemlock Falls - 90 Feet High |
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| Rocks through a clear mountain stream |
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| One Happy Dad! Happy Birthday, Daddy! |
Hope you enjoyed this family celebration at Cloudland Canyon. (My siblings were there, honest!) Of course you must know this hiking in all this nature is right up my alley. I took all these photos, Richard was not able to come. Of course, the photos would have been better had he come along! I have more to say about Cloudland Canyon but it is late, maybe another post!
Oh, I did find a great video on Youtube for you and it gives you a great idea of what it looks like, except the waterfalls were more spectacular due to all the rain that we have had. Hope you like !
What a pretty place. I'm always amazed at the beauty which is within a days drive of my home. We are truly blessed by the area we live in. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jeanette! Very often, folks don't go to places nearby and therefore miss out on a lot! xx
DeleteOkay - you do know you had to pass me on your way there! sandie
ReplyDeleteI waved at you as we flew past Kennesaw on I-75!!
DeleteWe didn't even stop to see my son who also lives there, my Dad had to get home to check on his cows! xx
Happy Birthday to your Dad, Kay! What a beautiful place - simply stunning.If anyone can trek those steps, it's you!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your birthday wishes for my Dad! It is INCREDIBLY beautiful, took my breath away.
DeleteHA, I wasn't sure I was going to make those steps, those signs were there for a reason! :-)
A very happy birthday to your dad, Kay! I wish him man more years of health and happiness. What a fabulous place this is.
ReplyDeleteDear Martha,
DeleteYou would have LOVED it!!
And thanks so much for your birthday wishes for my Daddy! xx
What a beautiful place to celebrate a birthday! I didn't know that Georgia had places like that. It;s been an education reading your blog and seeing the different sights. I'm always learning something new and today I learned a little more about your state.
ReplyDeleteOH, we really do have some beautiful places. I am on the search for beauty at all times. Glad you liked this too!
DeleteMany happy returns of the day to your father!
ReplyDeleteThanks,Mimi! I know everyone thinks their Dad is the best, mine really is!!
DeleteThank you, thank you, thank you for another memory that I had not thought about for about 25 years! We took Kate there when she was 4 and she counted every one of those 600 steps down - too tired to count them on the way back! The view from the top was amazing and then down at the bottom - it was magical - but very chilly down there. Once I get my old photos scanned, I will let you see what it was like all those years ago - not much different I suspect. Chattanooga - is that where we saw the steam trains - I seem to remember having (to us) the most enormous cups of coffee there. Happy Birthday to your Dad. x
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I was hoping you would see this post!
DeleteYOU are the one who told me about Cloudland Canyon, I had never heard of it! My sister goes all the time, she and her husband and son are big campers.
We had been in the sun and it was warm,but you are right, in the shadow of the mountain going down the stairs, it WAS chilly. (It was muddy too! There is some of the trail,in-between the medal stairs.)
Yes, there are trains at Chattanooga. And we still have those giant cups of coffee, come back to the USA!! xx
Thanks for the birthday wishes for my Dad. xx
What a magical, mystical place! And I love the name too. Happy birthday to your Dad -- many more!
ReplyDeleteYes, and Cloudland Canyon is in Rising Fawn, Georgia. Don't you just adore the name of the little town?
DeleteThanks for the birthday wishes for Daddy!
Good photos, good place, good day!
ReplyDeleteThank you! It was wonderful!
DeleteHi Kay! Happiest of Birthdays to your precious father!!!! What a wonderful celebration!!! I didn't know about this place but I'm so glad you've shared it ~ we may have to do a family trip there one day. Am I wrong that you also have an April birthday????
ReplyDeleteThanks, Audrey! It was great! I hope you are able to get there one day, you would LOVE it!
DeleteYes, I have always loved that my birthday is close to my Dad's, mine was the 15th. :-)
HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KAY!!!!!!!! I'm so sorry I missed it ~ will have to do better next year. I hope you had a lovely, relaxing, fun, happy day on the 15th. Hugs & Kisses to you!!!!!
DeleteBeautiful post, Kay! Cloudland Canyon is lovely. I enjoyed the video with its beautiful scenery and soundtrack. You did great taking photos! Happy birthday to your dad!
ReplyDeleteSo happy you looked at the video. It gives you a very good idea of how it looked.
DeleteAnd thanks, I know mine are not as good as Richard's, but the scenery was so great, it was hard not to take a few good shots! Thanks for the birthday wishes! xx
What a lovely place and post! Would love to go there:-)
ReplyDeleteHappy b-day to your daddy!
You would love it. There are miles and miles of trails.
DeleteThanks for the the birthday wishes! :-)
What amazing scenery - I can see why your Dad thought it was perfect. I think Richard has a rival for photography skills ;-) x
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Julie! Guess what? I took ONE photo that I showed to the nice girl who was working there, and she told me that I needed to enter it into their photo contest. You can only send it to them on Dec. 1st, so wish me luck, I am going to try for it! If they pick yours as the winner, they use it on a post-card and you get two free nights at a cabin at Cloudland Canyon. I would love that! (They pick 4 winners, one for each season of the year.) Fingers crossed!
DeleteWow!! So beautiful!! Can you swim in the falls? I'd love to do that! Any place called Cloudland sounds magical. Thank you so much for the birthday wishes :D
ReplyDeleteActually, it is quite dangerous to go near the falls, the rocks are very slippery and the rushing water could sweep you away. There are big signs warning you of this.
DeleteAt Cherokee Falls, you could walk close enough to feel the spray against your face. It WAS magical!
I love having a birthday in April, don't you? xx
What a lovely, lovely place ... all those waterfalls! I think it's better to climb down first, then back up. At least your legs won't be all wobbly on the way back! (I am thinking of when we climbed the hundreds of steps in St. Paul's Cathedral. Going up wasn't so bad but going down seemed almost harder.)
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday to your dear Dad - he is the same age as mine.
Oh, it really was lovely. It's hard to describe what it was like, it was such a vertical drop, the steepest stairs ever and looking through the metal grates of the stairs you could see the land below which can make you feel a bit dizzy.
DeleteAnd I have climbed those steps at St. Paul's too! It looks so different there now, the area around it is completely transformed. Richard worked just across the street from St. Paul's. He misses London, of course!
Ah, 1927 was a very good year. My mother-in-law in England will turn 86 in December too! xx
How beautiful. I do love seeing different scenery through the eyes of fellow bloggers. It's also good to know that Spesh has been there. Now she really will have to make a start on scanning old images! Your Dad does not, I have to say, look 86.
ReplyDeleteYes, in fact, Pat is the one who first told me about Cloudland Canyon! Isn't that funny? When my sister suggested this, I laughed and told her one of my good blogging buddies had told me about it!
DeleteMy Dad will be pleased to hear you say that and you know I will tell him! :-)
Do you know, I had completely forgotten that I had mentioned Cloudland Canyon to you. Put it down to one of a series of "senior moments" that I now get!
ReplyDeleteOh, Pat, I know just what you mean! I had to think really hard to remember who told me about it!!
DeleteAnd I thought of you when I was going down those steps, I am walking in your footsteps!! :-)
What a spectacular place Kay! You are correct, I wouldn't have thought this was in Georgia. Cloudland Canyon...a name to remember!!
ReplyDeleteHope your Dad had a great time....well I guess he did by the look on his face!
It is a great place!
DeleteAnd my Dad and I are just alike, we are not good actors, you can tell what we are thinking by our faces!
Happy Birthday to your Dad, Kay! (and to you, as well!) Cloudland Canyon is indeed a beautiful place. I was introduced to it by another blogger friend, and it's definitely on my list of Places To Visit Someday. It was nice of you and your siblings to give your Dad such a special time.
ReplyDeleteYour photos are lovely, by the way.
Thank you, Beth! And thanks for your birthday wishes for me and for my Dad! I hope you get to Cloudland Canyon, I thought it was very special.
DeleteGood photos by me? Wonders will never cease!!
So good to see your comment!
What a gorgeous place! I absolutely love the waterfall!
ReplyDeleteThe waterfalls were so full, the sky so blue, the trees so green...it was like a state park that had been photo-shopped, it was just that perfect!
DeleteNot surprised your Dad called it a "perfect" day! It has all the ingredients - the people he loves around him, a great setting and superb weather, by the looks of it.
ReplyDeleteA belated Happy Birthday to your dear Dad! Even though I have never met him - and most likely never will -, because of your blog I feel a little bit as if I know him. He's a lovely man who has a lovely daughter, that's for sure!
Thanks, Meike! If you did meet my Dad, you would laugh with him so much and he would try to speak German to you and you would laugh even more! (Remember my post about his German memories?)
DeleteI really do love people who can describe someone or someplace or something with the FEWEST words, and that would be my Dad! Always has been hard for me to write about the people I love the most, so I am glad I can convey a bit to you in my blog. :-)
What fabulous scenery. You have so many wonderful places to see where you live, Kay!
ReplyDeleteIt is a gorgeous spot. You would love it. It is my job in life to seek out beauty and to share it! ;-)
DeleteYes I did enjoy and it brought back memories of my time in Tennessee
ReplyDeletearound 1990.
Hey Barbara! Thanks for your comment! I love the mountains in Tennessee, they are so beautiful!
DeleteI have never been to Graceland or to Dollywood, but they are on my list!
Happy Birthday to your Dad! What an amazing place. That is an awesome waterfall. I can almost feel the mist from them.
ReplyDeleteHey Kay!!
DeleteYou KNOW I thought of you when I saw that big waterfall!
I know you have lovely waterfalls in Hawaii and it reminded me of pictures that I have seen from there!
Thanks for the birthday wishes for my Dad! xx