Tallulah Gorge State Park is located in northeastern Georgia. It is home to an impressive canyon that is two miles long and almost 1,000 ft deep. We hiked both the North and South Rim trails along with the Hurricane Falls trail. One of my favorite features of this park was the suspension bridge over the canyon. It was so cool to walk across the bridge and hear the river rushing beneath you. In addition to hiking, you can also bike, climb, and swim in the park. This state park requires an entry fee.
Hiking
This park has a network of trails. Here is a link to a trail map from the Georgia State Parks website. We hiked the North and South Rim trails which are connected by the Hurricane Falls trail. By combining these three trails, we were able to make a loop starting and ending at the visitor’s center. Our hike was about 3.3 miles. We visited all the overlooks on the rim trails and hiked down into the canyon (up to the closed gate) on the Hurricane Falls trail.
If you plan to hike this loop, be prepared for A LOT of steps. The Hurricane Falls trail has over 1,000 steps. Depending on the volume of water flowing in the river, permits are issued to visit the gorge floor. There are a limited number of permits available each day, so be sure to arrive early if you hope to get one. When we visited in late May, the gorge floor was closed due to high water levels. Here is a link to trail descriptions on the Georgia State Parks website.
Other Activities
Our main focus while visiting the park was hiking around and into the canyon. Depending on the time of year (and rate of water flow), you can also climb, swim, and bike in the park. Camping is also available inside the park, however, we camped outside the park at Morganton Point Campground. We wanted to be more centrally located to other destinations in the northern Georgia area. If you’d like to learn more about other activities in the park, here is a link to the Georgia State Parks: Tallulah Gorge website.