Rt 441 leads from Florida thru Georgia and then Tennessee. We followed it south last December and now the yo-yo is being wound back up and we are being drawn back up that same road. Some of the scenery looks vaguely familiar and others are totally strange to us. In December the grass was dry and the trees bare. Now there are redbud trees dotting the forests, small purple and pink flowers splashing the roadsides and along side the fences. White Bradford Pear trees line driveways and daffodils fill up flowerbeds and boulevards. The best part about 441 is not having to drive thru Atlanta and NO traffic like what’s on I75!
Tallulah Gorge State Park is right on Rt 441, within the city limits of Tallulah Falls in North Georgia and I remember seeing the signs for it going south but back then it just looked like a dark lake rimmed with pines and craggy boulders. Coming north is a whole ‘nother picture!! Coming north you can see the opposite side of the dam, built in 1910 (which is right under the highway!) and you can begin to see the actual 2 mile long gorge that is at some points 750 ft down below.
Within the campground is a hiking trail that runs ¾ of a mile along either side of the gorge rim with several overlooks spaced along the way. Most of the path is listed as “easy to moderate” but we wondered - For whom???? We walked the one whole side and back and even ½ of the 1000 OPEN GRATED steps leading almost straight down to the bottom where a swing bridge crosses the river. The farthest overlook still has the remains of the tower that was used in 1970 when tightrope walker Karl Wallenda walked from the north side to the south rim on a wire strung between the two. The river itself drops 600 ft before it joins the Chattooga River and has 5 named major waterfalls. Of the 5, L’Eau d’Or (French for Water of Gold) is 46 ft, Tempesta is 76 ft and Hurricane is 96 ft. If you look closely in one of the pictures there is a tunnel that the water rushes thru! The west side of Rt 441 includes the lake itself, a beach, a 1913 restored jail, blacktopped bike/hiking trails and the actual town of Tallulah Falls. H said if we had more time here we would hike and explore more of the area.
We called son Steve via cell phone this evening in hopes of visiting with him and his family on our way thru Tennessee. He returned our call from Mississippi so I guess our visit will have to wait for another trip south, as he won’t be back in Clinton until Sunday evening. He told us he is still working but everyone in the plant took a pay cut and a cut in hours in order for no employee to be laid off. Everyone from the executives to the plant workers - now doesn’t that sound like a good company to work for?!! Unfortunately, his wife was laid off from Oak Ridge back in January.
