CAMPNPOST

West Rim Trail - Cloudland Canyon - A three hour tour, ok three and a half

Feb 11th, 2008 by admin

Not a huge fan of State Parks or tourist traps in general but to me this one is above the rest as far as Georgia goes. I drove up to do some hiking in Northwest Georgia , part of the Cumberland Plateau. The West Rim Loop Trail in Cloudland Canyon State Park is one of my favorite little day hikes in Georgia for the terrain, natural beauty, and some great views over the gorge. The words “State Park” might as well say (stay away) for me but in this case it’s easy to make an exception. Don’t let it deter you from a visit here.

I hit all three of the main trails up there Saturday and it took me about 3-1/2 hours to hike them and also make stops for pictures, videos and additional hikes along some of the park roads to connect to the trail heads. I was keeping a pretty good pace. I usually take it a bit slower if it’s somewhere new to me but typically after 2-3 times I tend to start going quicker to try and fit in as much as possible.

I began my hike a little differently this time from the parking lot of the primitive camping area. I took the lead in trail from the 16 site pads available down to the West Rim Loop trail and taking a left at the intersection, went backwards (Northwest) up the trail. I followed the yellow rectangular trail markers up to the Western-most part of the trail where it looks off the steep mountainside to the west which would look over portions of Alabama and Tennessee off in the distance.
If you go the way I did you will see that once you reach the western edge of the park, the furthest point out from the main parking lot, it opens up to some great views along the ridge-line. From this point until the switchbacks heading down the canyon wall there are plenty of incredible views along most of the hike! Further on down the trail it opens up to the gorge where the larger waterfalls are located. Stop for a minute and take it in but if you continue on there are some really cool outcroppings and outstanding views without any of the previous handrails obstructing your views of the drop off. If you’re hiking with children, hang onto them as there are some small crevasses to hop over in these outcroppings.

Keep in mind that these outcroppings are some of the first major points of interest on the loop trail if you are coming from the main parking lot making it a great spot to have a picnic with the family. If you slacked and came too late to do the whole loop you can sit for a while and stare out over the gorge to the other side and the main lookout. You could also climb around in some of the deep crevasses or even do a little bouldering but be careful.

This should be an easy hike for youngsters, due to the topography of the park. Once you are inside the park it does plateau and much of the trail is considerably flat. The steepest portion of the trail is on some of the switch-backs leading down the canyon wall to the Daniels Creek Bridge at the top end of the two main waterfalls.

If you are interested in joining in on a group hike visit teamgreenonline.com “Tennessee’s Only Adventure Club” will be meeting to the West rim and waterfall trail on Feb. 17th, 2008.

Directions:

From Trenton, Take GA Hwy. 136 east 8 miles. You will see signs for Cloudland Canyon along the way. Entrance is clearly marked. Get your own directions