The Great Outdoors: Raven Cliffs, GA

Here's a fun place we like to go to when we want a place that we can either backpack to a campsite to OR just car camp right by the road. This trail is approximately 1.5 miles outside of Helen, GA on Richard B. Russel Scenic Highway and is easy to find. There is a paved parking lot with bathrooms at the trail head, of course, make sure you've got cash on you because it's a $3 usage fee. OR invest in an Annual State Park Pass like I did. $35 for the year and you are able to park and visit ANY trail. The trail itself is a total 5 mile round trip hike and at times can be tricky due to washed out trails and fallen trees. The payoff at the end is worth getting a little muddy for. You follow along Dodd Creek most of the way passing by smaller waterfalls and rapids and end at the tall cliffs. The actual waterfalls cascade 80 to 90' between the cliffs. You can access the top of the cliffs by climbing an old tree root ladder (for those that can brave it). I will tell you that there is NO rappelling on those cliffs, but we did play dumb and tried it anyways. A little difficult though because of all the people watching us and also the fact that you couldn't go all the way to the bottom of the rock wall or you'd be in the water. So, we had to have someone standing on a boulder ready to catch the climber as they swung out to them. Needless to say... I stayed at the bottom taking pictures. ; )

Here's just a few pictures of the different trips we've taken through the years.

Here's a rough looking trail map of the area.

Me, Andy, Marquardt, Chris, Polly, and Wendy in 2004

A lot of the trail has been washed out due the various Hurricanes that have come through and caused flooding. This is actually the BOTTOM of the foot bridge that crosses over Dodd Creek.

Views of Dodd Creek along the trail

Almost to the cliffs.

Polly demonstrates how to properly climb over fallen trees in the trail.

The bottom of the falls. A perfect picnic spot if you get there early. The trail tends to be VERY crowded during the warmer months.

A view up the cliffs

Chris and Marquardt actually on the other side of Dodd Creek to see if they can climb up and check out the top of the falls from there.

The tree root ladder to the top of the cliffs. It's actually a little scarier than it looks. Once you get to the top of the ladder, you have to be careful as you step over to the top of the cliffs. Step too far and you fall off the other side of the cliffs.