Black Rock Mountain - James Edmond, Ada-Hi Falls, and Tennessee Rock Trails (Rabun County, Georgia)

 

I'm leading another Meetup group today. This time we'll hike the trails of Black Rock Mountain State Park near the Georgia-North Carolina border and Georgia's highest-altitude state park. I always like to arrive early when I'm leading and as I drive up the mountain, I'm a bit surprised to see snow and ice along the roadside. We've had a lot of rain in Atlanta over the last few days, but I wasn't expecting this. It may add some challenges to our outing.

As we approach the 10:00 AM start time I designated, several hikers begin to arrive. As we congregate in a picnic area at the confluence of the three trails we'll be hiking today, we all comment on the cold temperatures. The Georgia humidity and cold winds make it feel 10-15 degrees colder than the mercury reading, which currently shows 30°. We do a quick round of introductions, as usual, and then the nine of us are off.

This is my first visit to this park and I listed it as an exploratory hike, meaning there may be some level of route-finding as we make our way. That said though, I did review the trails pretty thoroughly before organizing the event. My plan is to link together two loop trails and one short out and back into a solid day of hiking. All three trails depart from this trailhead thus allowing people to skip one or both of the later hikes if they so choose. First we'll do the 7.5ish mile James Edmonds Trail, followed by a short out-and-back to Ada-Hi Falls, and then finally, we'll hike up to the crown of the park and summit of Black Rock Mountain along the Tennessee Rock Trail.

We almost immediately start hitting some snow covered sections on the trail and while it's not deep (only an inch or so at most) the melting and refreezing combined with the compression of the the footsteps of previous hikers has turned it into a slalom in places. I had hoped and even advised the group of keeping a 2.5 mph pace, but I don't want anyone getting hurt, which forces us to go a bit slower in places. It's the right decision though.

While many sections are covered with ice and snow, those areas in direct sunlight are something of a muddy, slippery mess and I am actually the first to go down. Though I land softly without any injury, other than my pride, it's a good warning to the whole group of the need to take our time on these slippery sections.

The trail itself is relatively easy to follow and the orange blazes on trees make navigation pretty simple. The trail splits and rejoins a couple of times, but we eventually reach the eastern most section and Lookout Mountain, which offers some outstanding views of the valleys to the northwest. We pause for a couple of minutes to take pictures before proceeding on.

As we drop down to the parking lot area for Black Rock Lake, I suggest it is a good place for a short snack break. The parking lot is surrounded by a set of low wooden barriers, which provide an ideal place to sit while we consume a few calories. From here, we take a short detour around the lake itself. This section is nearly flat, but some of the muddiest parts of the trail we've seen to this point. 

Returning to the Edmonds Trail, we begin the slow climb back up to the parking lot, passing a couple of nice waterfalls along the way. One of the hikers begins falling a bit behind and another, whom I have hiked with several times and I know to be very capable, offers to hang back with him. I truly appreciate her offer and those of us in the front continue on back to the parking lot. Once there we stop for a few minutes waiting for the others to join us, but we get a text message telling us to go onto the waterfall without them, as they are quite a ways behind. 

Six of the original nine walk along the Springhouse trail towards Ada-Hi Falls. This trail is similarly covered with snow and ice and one particular section with a large downed tree forces us to use our Ninja-warrior skills, but we make it past without injury. Dropping down to the park campground, we then reach several sets of wooden stairs descending down to the waterfall. They are ice-covered and I warn the group to take it very slow. It takes us a while, but everyone makes it to the observation deck without anyone falling.

Ada-Hi Falls itself is less impressive than I had hoped. It's a small stream fanning out over a large cliff. A few small icicles have formed, but being near the top of the the mountain, I assume there isn't a great deal of water available to flow over the cliff and so, it appears somewhat anti-climactic. It was still nice to see though. We take a few pictures and then head back the way we can, again being extra cautious on the icy staircases.

Once we reach the parking lot again, four more hikers decide to call it a day, leaving just myself and one other to complete the final trail, Tennessee Rock Trail. This is the highest trail of the three, but only about 2.2 miles. Still, the mud and ice are at their worst here and we are forced to take it even slower in places. Reaching the Tennessee Rock Overlook, we take a break to get some pictures. On a clear day, like today, it is said one can see into Tennessee, North and South Carolina from this viewpoint and I believe it. The green-ish brown rolling hills and mountains continue on as far as the eye can see in all directions before us.

Eventually, we reach the summit of Black Rock Mountain. At 3,640', it is the highest point in the park. As we take in our accomplishment, two F18-Hornets buzz by overhead. The sound of the jet engines is nearly deafening even at this range. We continue along the loop dropping down a couple of hundred feet to the return trail. This part of the trail is on the north side of the mountain and gets far less sunlight during the day. It is by far, the iciest and slickest section we have hiked all day. I slip several times, but never completely loose my footing. We are forced to move at a snail's pace though over several sections.

Finally make it back to the parking lot, I thank the last hiker for joining me on this adventure and head to my jeep to put on some fresh cloths, as the ones I have on are a sweaty, muddy mess and I have a ninety minute drive before I get home. My GPS app shows that we've hiked 12.2 miles with right around 2,750 of elevation gain and loss. That's a pretty good day in my mind.