Cloudland Canyon State Park - Rising Fawn, Georgia (August 2021)

The last time we camped in a Georgia State Park, a reservation was nothing more than a hunting license to look for the best open campsite. Things have changed because your reserved site is now where you must park your camper. 

Sign at entrance to the park

Had we known that, we would have been more selective when we made our reservations. The East Rim camp sites are closer to the more popular trails. The West Rim sites are larger, but you need to drive to get to most trails. Our reservations were for the West Rim and that is where we had to park Rosie, our Airstream trailer.

We are not complaining because the old policy didn't make sense and late arrivals were always stuck with the least desirable sites. We know going forward to be careful when making reservations in Georgia State Parks.

Our site in the West Rim Camping Loop

We felt better after driving through the East Rim Campground. Those sites were much closer to each other and those sites didn't have as much shade as the ones in the West Rim. Also, we felt we had a better area to walk our dog in the West Rim campground. Maybe the West Rim turned out to be a better choice during the COVID pandemic.

If you need to get a few supplies while camping here, there is a grocery store at the base of the hill. It takes about 15 minutes to get there and you have to go through two hairpin curves.

We expected the composure of the campground to change over the weekend. While we did see more children on bicycles, we were surprised at the increase in number of single people camping.

The big draws to this campground are the trails. There are multiple trails to waterfalls and into the canyon and some are highly rated by a national backpacker's magazine. It is easy to see why the trails in this park are favorites of many campers.

One of the park's trails

The view from a trail

The overlook trail

Some of the trails in this park are steep and challenging. We decided to keep to the knee-friendly trails this time. We were surprised by the lack of other people on the trails. We shared the trails with multiple people the last time we camped in this park. We only saw one couple behind us for a short way on a trail this time.

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There are two camping loops in this park
• Our site was a back-in
• Our site was gravel. We needed leveling tools to correct a slight side-to-side lean
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service
• Our site had a water connection. The documents from the park claimed the campground had high water pressure. We measured the pressure as 42 psi
• Our site did not have a sewer connection
• There were multiple gray water dump stations in the campground. The black water dump station was a significant distance from the West Rim campsites
• We could not find any WiFi service in this park
• AT&T provided two bars of 5Ge service for voice and data over our site
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, CW, Fox, NBC and PBS using Rosie's TV antenna
• We were able to see Antenna, ME-TV, Bounce, COMET, Charge, GRIT and THiS digital TV channels
• There were several bath houses in the West Rim campground. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we did not check on their conditions
• This was a pet friendly park

We ended up leaving a few days early. Our neighbor from home called to let us know we had a jury summons in our mailbox and we were on deadline for turning in the accompanying questionnaire and paperwork. That took the wind out of our sails and we left to get home in time to turn in the documents required by the court. Now we are waiting to see if we will watch our local version of Perry Mason in action.

A waterfall

A view from a trail

Another waterfall

The canyon

A hummingbird in the canyon

Rosie in our camping site

Suzy gets to watch a work machine

Selfie next to Rosie

An interesting tree in the camping loop

Cloudland Canyon State Park -Georgia (October 2018)

If you ask Google to list the best campgrounds in the South, Cloudland Canyon State Park is usually in the top ten. After reading the reviews, we knew we needed to explore Cloudland.

Sign at Cloudland Canyon State Park

You have to plan your arrival time when visiting a Georgia State Park. This is because you don’t reserve a specific campsite, you simply reserve the right to select the best one you can find from the remaining sites. This means you have to come up with a strategy for when you arrive at the campground. You cannot arrive too early because campers in the best sites may be slow to leave. You cannot arrive too late because campers arriving ahead of you will claim the prime sites. 

There are two loops in this park and the person who checked us in said the bigger sites were in the west Rim Campground and the East Rim was closer to the hiking trails and the waterfalls. We decided to take a quick spin through the East Rim first then head to West Rim if we didn’t see what we were looking for. 

Our timing was perfect. There are only a handful of sites in the East Rim Campground that we classify as prime spots and two were open. We quickly backed Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer, in the site that looked best to us before another camper slipped in.

Rosie in our East Rim campsite

After disconnecting Rosie, we drove over to the other campground to check it out. Our impression was that most sites in the West Rim were larger and probably better than 90 percent of the sites in the East Rim Campground. We felt fortunate to have claimed one of the really good sites in the East Rim. 

We also noticed that the restroom serving West Rim appeared to be newer and in better condition than the one for the East Rim Campground. The East Rim Campground restroom may have skipped a few repair and renovation cycles.

One of the advantages of the East Rim is its close proximity to most trailheads in the park. Several people mentioned that the trail to Cherokee Falls was a must-see. This was our first hike there and it wasn’t disappointing. You have to descend a couple hundred steps to get to this waterfall, but it is worth doing so.

The stairs to the falls

Sign to the falls

Cherokee Falls

You can continue down for another 600 steps to reach Hemlock Falls. Our knees voted to skip that hike. Besides, another person in the campground said that we could hike to Hemlock Falls through a trail that traveled along the canyon's floor. 

We hiked the West Rim trail the next morning. This goes around the top of the west canyon rim and offered some great views at the lookouts. The leaves were approaching peak fall colors during our visit and this helped make a beautiful park spectacular.

View from the West Rim

The West Rim

We hiked the Sitton Gulch Trail the third morning. According to our Fitbits, this was a five mile round trip hike through the canyon’s floor and it ended at Hemlock Falls. There were small waterfalls, cascades and a rushing creek with large boulders that we enjoyed along the trail. 

Along the Sitton Gulch Trail

It was easy for us to see why a hiking magazine once rated the the trails in this park as among the nation’s best. It was also easy to see why this park is considered to be one of the best in the South. The campground itself isn’t spectacular, but the park, the canyon and the trails are. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There are two camping loops in this park. The West Rim Loop has what appears to us to be larger sites. The East Rim Loop is walking distance to the waterfalls and several popular hiking trails. 
• Our site was a back-in
• Our site was gravel and level
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site did not have a sewer connection
• We could not find any WiFi service in this park.
• AT&T provided two bars of 4G service over our site
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and PBS using Rosie's TV antenna
• We were able to see ME-TV, COMET, Charge and GRIT digital TV channels. 
• The restrooms in the East Rim Loop were clean and warm. They were also in need of being renovated because some things either didn’t work or appeared to have been quickly patched back together 

Temperatures were chilly while we were visiting this park. It dropped to 37 one morning. Of course, it was very cozy inside Rosie and we didn’t mind the cold temperatures.

Rosie in Cloudland Canyon State Park

We noticed that many of the people camping here were very passionate about this park and it was easy for us to see why. The park is beautiful and we enjoyed its hiking trails.