Amicalola Falls State Park

The Amicalola Falls State Park is a state park in Dawson County in the U.S. state of Georgia. The 335 -acre park is located 24 km northwest of Dawsonville, bordering the Chattahoochee National Forest. The park contains the Amicalola Falls, the highest at 222 m waterfalls in the Southeast.

Geography

The area of ​​the park is covered with deciduous forest at the southern end of the Blue Ridge Mountains and thus at the southern end of the Appalachians. Center of the park are the waterfalls where the water comes from a Amicalola Mountain above, 1020 m high mountain ridge. The creek flows down the western slopes until he crashes into several stages in the valley of the Etowah River.

Flora and Fauna

The area is mostly wooded with a deciduous forest of hickory and oak and a pine-oak mixed forest. In spring and summer bloom numerous plants such as dogwood, laurel and rhododendron roses as well as an inventory of stems lots of women shoes.

In addition black bear, deer and turkeys, woodpeckers helmet and Eastern Triangle snakes live in the area.

History

In the field of the tribe of Cherokee Indians lived until they were evicted in 1838 by the Trail of Tears. The waterfalls were in the Cherokeesprache called Calo To Ma La, which means " water drumming ". They were first mentioned in 1832 by the surveyor William Williamson. About 1852 moved a Bartley Crane at the foot of the cases, who ran a flour mill by the stream near the present visitor center. 1860 was a camp of the Methodist Church at the Falls, which served both North and South for troops as a training and parade ground during the Civil War. Bartley Cranes son John Crane went on after the death of his father's mill and a store until 1940 he owned his land sold to the State, who founded the twelfth State Park Georgia on the premises. In 1957, the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail was moved to the nearby Springer Mountain, so the park to the starting point of the long-distance route was. In 1991, the lodge was built.

Tourist Facilities

The visit to the park is chargeable. At the falls result in a number of ways with varying degrees of difficulty, overall lead over 19 miles of hiking trails through the park. The park has a visitor center, a campground with 24 parking spaces, 14 overnight cabins and on the top of a lodge with restaurant and 56 guest rooms. An eight -mile path leads to the Len Foote Hike Inn, a reachable only by foot mountain hotel with 20 rooms. The Hike Inn has its own patrons, who also holds an honorary way to stand.