Cloudland Canyon Adventure Weekend (Dade County, Georgia)

I've done a few trips with the Georgia Conservancy during my time living in Atlanta and this weekend, I'm heading out to Cloudland Canyon with the organization for one of their "Adventure Weekends". Unlick many of the others though, this is fairly unstructured and allows a lot of time to explore the park's various trails.

I drove up after work on Friday and as always, getting through Atlanta traffic was a nightmare, but I finally arrived at the park's Group Lodge around 6:30 pm. It seems I was one of the first to arrive, but after checking in, I brought my gear into the lodge and picked a bunk. Unlike past trips, I decided to stay in the bunk house this time instead of camping. Over the next hour or so, several others arrived and we enjoyed a great dinner of loaded spuds (complete with pulled pork) and some beer over a campfire. Around 10:30 pm, I called it a night, knowing that I was planning to get in some pretty good miles the next day.

I shared a bunk room with another group of really great guys (an elderly father, his son, who is around my age, and the father's friend). We all awoke around 6:30 after a good night's sleep and headed to the kitchen for coffee and breakfast. This morning, the crew made up some fantastic breakfast burritos for us, which was the perfect fuel to power me through my trail miles today. Around 9:00 am, I headed out to hike the Cloudland Connector Trail, or as I would learn to call it, the River to Clouds Route. I'll do a separate write-up for that trail.

I got back to camp around 2:30 pm, took a quick shower, and relaxed the rest of the afternoon. After 14.5 miles, I think I earned it. For dinner, we had tacos with all the fixins. They always take great care of us on these trips. After the meal, I grabbed a beer and headed out to the raging campfire, where the trip organizer and I traded backpacking stories. It was great fun and I stayed up until about 10:30 pm again. 

Sleeping in a bit, I finally rose a little after 7:00 am. The organizers had made a breakfast of bacon and pancakes for us, which hit the spot. I did a short hike to Bear Creek Canyon and then said my goodbyes and headed over to the main overlook to snap a picture or two before I departed. I really enjoy the events Georgia Conservancy puts together and I'm glad to be able to take part in them and support the organization.