It takes me 5.5 hours with a pack.
Don't know why the previous post left out the 5.5
It takes me 5.5 hours with a pack.
Don't know why the previous post left out the 5.5
One of my first hikes was the approach trail and I vastly underestimated the time needed to get to Springer... amazing how fast you can hike when you're afraid you're not going to make it to your destination in time. It's tough - but if you take your time - it's a nice tough hike.
Does anyone know if the Approach Trail -- at least the portions on Amicalola Falls Sate Park - actually closes at 5pm?
I went back to the park to do another day hike to Springer, this time planning to incorporate the Hike Inn trail.
This time I checked in with the visitors center -- hadn't even occurred to me to do that last time I did my day hike. The person working there (ranger?) told me I had to return and check back in with them by 5pm, when the visitor center closes. Why? The park is allegedly open until 10pm. And sunset was at 5:45pm yesterday and is getting later every day now. But I still promised to return by 5pm.
So I didn't make it to Springer this time -- I had to cut my hike a little short in order to guarantee that I'd be back to the visitors center by 5pm.
I made it back there by 4:56pm to find that it had already closed for the day!! Oy. So I could have been out there for longer, since I was unable to check back in anyway....
The park worker also seemed to want me to park at the top of the falls, when i wanted to start my hike with climbing the stairs up the falls --- that's my favorite part. Why should I be forced to skip that? Or what if I had wanted to start my hike with the archway behind the visitors center? Seemed so strange. It was not a busy day and there was a ton of parking.
Maybe next time I go there I won't stop by the visitors center first... doesn't seem to be much point.