Duke Creek Falls
2017.10.16 - I visited today. Prior to going I did take a look at the Georgia Trail page which rated this as an Easy trail. Now, again - this is subjective, the site states that they are experienced hikers for 20 years :-) .... I'm not. It is about 2 miles round trip (or in and out I believe). I'm capable of the walk but I do get nervous on uneven footing. A large amount of this hike is either hard packed earth or gravel, but there are several places where there are gnarly tree roots - and as it always happens - on the thinnest part of the trail. So this took quite a bit out of me. For a young, sure footed hiker - I'm sure it is easy.
to give you perspective when I started going down this trail I was the only one in the parking lot. By the time I got to the bottom of the falls, two groups had started and passed me - oh well - hopefully the more I go the better I'll get. So with other rides in Georgia, this is easy for me to get to, pretty straight and about an hour and a half. At the top of the trail is a great overlook to the mountains. I appreciate this. While I am driving I see wonderful views but no where to pull over and enjoy the view (or snap a pic) so an overlook is always welcome. Now my work team has a mascot octopus name RAPA. I have decided to start taking Rapa with me on some trips so you'll see a Rapa selfie here :-).
I've been to several falls, Minnehaha falls, High State Park falls, Amicalola falls, and felt that Dukes ranks at the top. First there are 2 falls, secondly there is a factor to good falls. While rushing water is awesome, seeing some rocks gets to those frothy views folks like. Poor Minnehaha was dealing with a drought so was just a trickle, and once High State was so impacted by rains there were no rocks to see. This was a great mix and was only 56 degrees out which is awesome walking weather for me. So this is a definite recommendation - trees were just starting to turn. However not sure if we will have good color this year - lots of leaves were down already.
to give you perspective when I started going down this trail I was the only one in the parking lot. By the time I got to the bottom of the falls, two groups had started and passed me - oh well - hopefully the more I go the better I'll get. So with other rides in Georgia, this is easy for me to get to, pretty straight and about an hour and a half. At the top of the trail is a great overlook to the mountains. I appreciate this. While I am driving I see wonderful views but no where to pull over and enjoy the view (or snap a pic) so an overlook is always welcome. Now my work team has a mascot octopus name RAPA. I have decided to start taking Rapa with me on some trips so you'll see a Rapa selfie here :-).
I've been to several falls, Minnehaha falls, High State Park falls, Amicalola falls, and felt that Dukes ranks at the top. First there are 2 falls, secondly there is a factor to good falls. While rushing water is awesome, seeing some rocks gets to those frothy views folks like. Poor Minnehaha was dealing with a drought so was just a trickle, and once High State was so impacted by rains there were no rocks to see. This was a great mix and was only 56 degrees out which is awesome walking weather for me. So this is a definite recommendation - trees were just starting to turn. However not sure if we will have good color this year - lots of leaves were down already.
High Fall State Park ....
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