Tallulah Gorge - Full Moon Hike (Habersham County, Georgia)

 

I guess I'm just in a "lun-ey" mood today. After getting up super early this morning for the blood moon, I decided to spend my evening hiking down into Tallulah Gorge to see the full moon rise over the cliffside. This is a monthly event the park rangers put that draws a pretty big crowd. It's about an hour drive from the park and I left after dinner to arrive at the park a little after 8:00 PM. There was quite a crowd gathering.

At just about 8:30 PM, the scheduled start time, a ranger came out and started handing out light-stick wristbands to all of the participants, and soon we were headed down the 310 steps to the swinging bridge. In a moment of poor planning, I forgot my good headlamp and ended up stopping at a gas station on the way up to get something. It was a cheapy, but it definitely helped on the stairs in the dark. The walk across the bridge was a little un-nerving. Though the bridge is well constructed, it still sways a bit as people walk across it and with darkness surrounding us before the full moon rises, it's a little . . . unsettling. 

Once at the bridge, some people decided to wait, but I continued on with the park ranger and a few others to the bottom of the stairs at the gorge floor itself, raising the total stairs to 1,099. From there, we were very near the water level and with a few spotlights managed to get a decent shot of Hurricane Falls, the tallest waterfall in the park. It looks a little creepy at night. 

Returning to the bridge, the bright full moon began to climb above the trees on the distant cliffside and rise into the sky above us. My phone really struggles with night photography, but I chose the best photo I was able to get for inclusion here. 

After a bit, I decided to climb back up the rest of the way to the parking area and head home. I'm extremely tired and it's been a long day. I'm glad I came though. This was a cool experience.