My husband Bob and I spent last Thursday morning hiking down to Dukes Creek Falls. To be honest, July is never a great time to go hiking in my mind. Hot. Muggy. Buggy. I really don’t enjoy sweating that much, regardless of the view. However, after staying close to home because of COVID-19, sometimes it’s time to get outside and discover something new. For us, that was hiking down to Dukes Creek Falls.
I made one request of Bob––to go first thing in the morning. Here’s what we discovered.
We arrived in the parking lot at 8:15 and were not the first ones there. A large family group with several children were about to start down the trail. I took off to get ahead of them, thinking that even as senior adults, we would travel faster than they would. I was right.
The trail covers 1.1 miles downhill. That means the hike is another 1.1 miles uphill. The hike down was pretty easy. As the day heated up, the hike back to the parking lot became tougher. I kept wishing we had started the hike earlier.
The trail is somewhat deceptive at the beginning since it is paved. After the paved stretch, we walked down a boardwalk with a fair number of steps. The boardwalk ended at a dirt path with exposed tree roots and rocks. There were more steps along the way. It’s not a place for strollers or wheelchairs.
As we walked down the trail, we experienced reverent quiet. We listened to the birds, watched the butterflies, and looked for interesting bits of nature. The time felt holy. However, by the time we headed back up, the silence was gone as the trail began to fill up with other hikers.
The woods in July are thick and shady. It was pleasant walking as we began, but the humidity rose as we descended. The best views of the falls are somewhat obstructed by the foliage as well, but still awe-inspiring.
However, what we discovered most were small treasures along the trail. We saw at least four varieties of mushrooms in oranges, yellows, and whites. These were spectacular to see.
We saw wildflowers, blooming Rhododendron, and luscious ferns by the thousands. We saw wild ginger and Pawpaw trees. We saw rocks covered with thick, verdant green moss. We saw interesting shapes in the tree trunks.
What we saw was beautiful and worth the sweat and discomfort of hiking in July.
Back at the top, we found the parking lot almost full and four cars drove in while we were climbing in our car. This was on Thursday. We anticipated that it would not be overly crowded because it wasn’t the weekend.
A friend told me last night her family had tried to do the same hike on Saturday and couldn’t even get in the parking lot. Hiking in NE Georgia has become a huge draw for people who are local and who come up from other parts of the state.
If you want to take this hike, I’d recommend the following:
- Get there early. I wish we had started about 7:30 am.
- Take water. You’ll sweat a lot, so be prepared to re-hydrate.
- Wear good walking shoes. Really.
- Make sure your camera has a memory card. Sadly, mine did not for the first half of the hike. (Yes, this is embarrassing to put into print but it is what it is.)
- Take your mask. It was crowded at the viewing platform and the trail is narrow when trying to walk past others.
Check out the pictures that we took on the way back up the trail.
Click images to enlarge and scroll through
