Sat, Jun 25 2011 - Swim & Play @ Tallulah Gorge (View Original Event Details) Trip Leader(s): Laura V, Marty Participants: Joanna, Joe, Tim, Joan, Morgan, Damien, Will, Allan, Will, Laura V

Write Up:

We started with 10 in our group, including 3 first time AOC hikers. We got to the park office a few minutes before it opened at 8:00 and there was one other large group there before us. The ranger told us that the canyon was closed because of heavy runoff from rains the night before. He said they had someone down in the gorge checking conditions and they would decide whether to open the gorge at 10:00. They told us they would not give out any permits until that time.

We had to decide whether to wait at the permit desk for 95 minutes or take a hike around the canyon rim. We hiked the North Rim, which has a couple of great overlooks down into the gorge. After about 45 minutes, we went back to wait for our permits. The ranger showed us a giant trail map and pointed out a newly re-opened southern trail back out of the gorge. This trail is actually part of the original (pre State Park) route into the gorge and the ranger told us that it was a very steep and rocky trail.

After we got the permits, we made it down to the water slide in record time, with no falls into the water on the challenging river crossing. We did have to traverse one steeply sloped rock face that was very slick with water. This was the area that had caused the rangers to delay opening the gorge. They had told us that if you slid into the water, you would not be able to climb back out and would have to go over some falls. This seemed to be the case, but it was fun to navigate this tricky part.

We played at the water slide for a couple of hours, ate our lunches and sunbathed. Most people tried the water slide at least once, some of them numerous times. We did a group slide (9 of us) and had someone take our picture. It was extremely difficult to climb back out of the swimming hole on the slippery rock so some of us only did the slide a couple of times. Finally, at 1:00, everyone seemed to have had plenty of fun and time to relax, so we packed up to make our exit out of the canyon.

We wanted to take the southern exit out of the canyon on the Sliderock Trail, so we had a make another river crossing. The ranger had been down there checking permits, so I asked him how he had gotten across the river. He pointed to a rocky area just above the top of the water slide. We attempted the crossing and there were some fairly big leaps from rock to rock. The trail was pretty steep, but a lot more interesting than the stairs. The Sliderock Trail connects to the South Rim Trail, so we got to view the gorge from a few of the southern overlooks.

After returning to the park headquarters, we all decided to go for ice cream at an old time general store that Marty had told me about. We were greeted with samples of hot boiled peanuts (extra yummy after a hike), and several members of our group enjoyed the hickory barbeque, while the rest of us had (almost) homemade ice cream.

 

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