Thursday, May 12

After spending three days in the Atlanta suburbs, it was time to start our trek north. On Thursday around 11:00am, we said good-bye to the Sawnee Campground on Lake Lanier and headed off on our RV adventure. The weather has been so perfect in north Georgia this week, it was hard to leave!

You’d never consider northeast Georgia to be hilly, but the Blue Ridge Mountain run through this area of the country adding more challenge to driving the roads than you’d think. Andi was so tired today & wasn’t sure he was up for a longer drive day through the mountains. So, we decided to play it safe and stay for a night at Black Rock Mountain State Park in Clayton, Georgia. Clayton is located in the very northeast corner of Georgia, bordering both North Carolina and South Carolina.

Black Rock Mountain State Park is Georgia’s highest state park at 3,640 feet. The drive up the mountain was no joke for our RV! Andi and I heeded to the warning sign for RVs and unhooked the Jeep tow before ascending the narrow, curvy mountain road. Driving up the mountain to the campground reminded me of the roadways in New Zealand — narrow and winding with a lot of blind corners.

Black Rock Mountain State Park campground was beautiful! Several azalea bushes were in full bloom around the entrance and the cool, crisp air gave the camping area a mountainous vibe.

I took the Jeep to the state park’s visitors center to check in for camping while Andi set up the RV in our campsite. When I returned, we decided to hike the Tennessee Rock trail within the park. Tory and Aden weren’t very excited for another hike, but they didn’t have much say in the matter. Moving their bodies this afternoon would be a good thing.

The four of us drove to the Tennessee Rock trailhead and set off for a 2-mile hike. Sometimes the number of miles can be deceiving — though this wasn’t a long hike in distance, it was sure showing off in elevation climb. Our quads were burning as we ascended a fairly steep grade up the mountain. The view at the top was worth it though! What a sight of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

We continued our hike down to the parking lot, hiking on what felt like a deer trail at times. Fortunately, most of the trail was in the shade and we were at a high enough elevation that the heat wasn’t an issue. We made it back to our vehicle in the parking lot about 2 hours later.

A park ranger we saw on the trail suggested we visit the Black Rock Mountain Lake after our hike, so we drove the Jeep down there to see it. There’s a 1-mile boardwalk that wraps around the lake, but honestly we weren’t that impressed by the view. Hate to say it, but we’re lake snobs! Nothing compares to our favorite lake back home. I’m not sure I could have convinced Aden to walk another mile loop anyway.

We returned to our camper and made dinner. I warmed up a pre-meal Hawaiian chicken dinner from Sam’s Club and served it with broccoli and rice. It was such a gorgeous temperature outside, we decided to eat outdoors at the picnic table. After dinner, we went for a family walk through the campground and even that proved challenging with all the hills! We enjoyed talking to another camping couple from Wisconsin who were traveling in a Winnebago — same as us.