My final stop for today takes me to the James H. "Sloppy" Floyd State Park in Northwestern, Georgia. The park is named for a former Georgia State Legislator with an unusual nickname that may require further research, but for now, I'm hear to visit a trail that I read about on one of those Explore X posts you often see on Facebook.
The Marble Mine Trail departs the parking lot on the eastern end of Upper Lake and heads into the woods with a mild ascent. It's a wide trail, enough so for a jeep to drive up here, though I don't see any tracks. It parallels a small creek below. After a mile or so, I arrive at my destination.
Much like Keown Falls, which I visited earlier today, a tall overhang about 35 feet above me gives way to a dripping waterfall, which is probably flowing much more strongly in the wet season. The droplets of water have formed a grayish-blue pool below the overhang and a wooden walkway has been constructed around the pool and under the waterfall. On either side of the area below the overhang tunnels have been carved into the rock face. Presumably (although, I've not really found any documentation on this) marble was mined from this site at some point in the past.
I spend a few minutes explore the area before heading out the other direction to complete a small loop trail that includes small sections of the Jenkins Gap Trail and Upper Lake Loop Trail. Upon returning to the jeep, I see I've covered about 2.7 miles on this little loop. It was interesting and I think I might like to visit again during the wet season to see the waterfall on a better day.
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