Main Overlook – April 14, 2018
Last year, on our very first camping trip, the campers next to us recommended that we go camping at Cloudland Canyon State Park. We immediately began researching and looked at each other and said, “YUP!” However, the drive was estimated to be six hours, so there was no way we could make this a long weekend trip, so we added it to our bucket list of camping adventures. While my husband was away at training for six months, we decided as soon as he graduated we would take our new-to-us camper to Cloudland Canyon State Park for our first big trip!
Preparing for a camping trip can always be stressful, but preparing for your first LONG trip is terrifying! I made checklist after checklist and packed and repacked things to ensure we didn’t miss a thing. I checked the weather every day leading up to our departure, and thank you Lord, it was going to be clear skies on our day of travel. But looking forward throughout the trip I saw that the weather was ALL over the place. It was forecasted to be low of 30 degrees and a few days later a high of 82 degrees! Packing was a bit over whelming but we finally hit the road successfully that Friday morning.
The drive there was longer than expected. I also did a terrible job navigating and thought I could “outsmart” the GPS around Atlanta and unfortunately added almost an hour to our trip. BUT! We finally arrived around 4:30 pm (about 7 and a half hours later) and arrived safely, which was all we really cared about anyway. We prefer a more wooded site, so we selected the West Rim campsites. We were not disappointed. We stayed at site #39 which was backed against a large field so our Lucy had plenty of room to run and play. The sites are fairly level, gravel and each site had a fire ring and picnic table.
This was only our third time setting up, and my husband backed the camper in like a champ. He’s really getting good at it now (compared to our first adventures with the pop-up) and almost looks like a seasoned camper 🙂 The rest of the set up was seamless, as I created a campsite checklist to follow. It always a great feeling as campers when you find your “groove” and each person knows their responsibilities when arriving. By 6 pm we were cracking opening a cold one and grilling some pork chops!
Site #39, West RimÂ
Our second day at Cloudland we decided to go hiking because the weather was not looking great a few days into our trip. Rick, Lucy and I headed out for the Water Falls trails and the Main Overlook. Growing up in Hudson Valley, New York I couldn’t help but feel like I was at home in an Adirondack feel. The hike into the canyon was not a challenging one, but we were not prepared for the significant amount of stairs – almost 600 each way! You first hike down about half way into the canyon and then the waterfall trails break off in either direction. Both were breath taking, but we preferred Cherokee Falls over Hemlock Falls. After hiking down further into Hemlock Falls, we noticed Lucy was becoming overwhelmed and exhausted by the stairs. The stairs are grated so it was challenging for a dog even her size to find her balance. Additionally, the depth under the stairs can exceed 10 feet underneath them. At this point, Rick made a decision that he would have to CARRY her (all 72 pounds of her) up and out of the Canyon. Now, my husband is strong and in excellent shape, but that would make ANYONE tired! Over all, the hike took around 2 – 2 and a half hours in and out of the Canyon. Luckily, it was slightly overcast and a high of 65 degrees that day. It was absolutely PERFECT!
That evening was forecasted to be pretty terrible weather with severe thunderstorms and significant rain. The temperature had dropped from about 55 degrees down to a blistering 39 degrees. We had used the heat previously, but this round we alternated between the space heater and the propane and it seemed to save our propane this go around. Sunday was a lazy day for us as it continued to rain. We started an awesome show on Netflix called, “Lost in Space” – if you haven’t watched it I highly recommend it!
Monday the rain finally cleared out, but the chilly weather remained. When I say chilly – it was 34 degrees! We decided the blue skies and cold weather were perfect to hike the West Rim, which was right off the camp ground that we had stayed in. Unlike the Main Overlook and Waterfall trails, the West Rim hiking trail was a true nature trail that followed the rim of the canyon and trailed into the woods as well. The sights into the canyon were breath taking! There are several overlooks that you can stop and take photos at. What I loved was the hike into the woods; it was so intriguing to see the physical geology of this area! The rock formations are MASSIVE! The hike took approximately 2-3 hours and was about 5 miles.
The next day was by FAR our favorite day. I woke up Tuesday and decided that we should go adventuring to Lookout Mountain and Chattanooga. This was the first trip that I did not obsessively research and it worked out in our favor! During my early morning google session, I found a place called “Rock City” about 30 minutes from the campground. It did NOT disappoint! It was SO FUN! And the best part was that it was pet friendly! Lucy loved going in and out of the caves, standing on the over looks, and squeezing between the rock formations. The main overlook, where you can “see” seven states was absolutely incredible!
Rock City, Lookout Mountain – Main Overlook
There is even a spot where you temporarily go underground and see various children’s stories come to life. As a dog, I think Lucy was having the time of her LIFE!
Our next stop that day was the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park. This also was a google search for us. Rick LOVES anything to do with Civil War history so he was really excited to go see this area. You can walk through the various sites, but the park is massive. When we first arrived we stumbled upon a large field with snode grass (long flowing grass) and several cannons placed through out the field. I will never forget the moment Rick opened the truck door and Lucy saw the massive field with the lush flowing grass. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and immediately started running zoomies through the field. She was running like I have never seen before! The grass was just the perfect height that at points we would just see her head and floppy ears peeping up out of the grass every few seconds. In that moment she was pure, loving, happy dog. I enjoyed a moment laying in the grass and Lucy came over and gave me the biggest “thanks Mom” kiss – it was seriously one of my favorite moments with her so far in her doggie lifetime! We spent nearly an hour in the field hanging out, running and reading all the monuments. What was really cool about the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park is that you can do a phone tour, where you follow a map and dial in at various spots and it gives you an audio track about the history of that site. It was so educational and you didn’t even have to get out of your vehicle if you didn’t want to! But we did to view some of the monuments up close and personal.
Lucy running through the field at Chickamauga & Chattanooga Military Park
This was supposed to be our last day at Cloudland Canyon State Park – but we decided that we would stay! Stayed tuned for Part II!
Happy Hobby Campers 