Black Rock Mountain State Park

It was another beautiful summer morning with light hazy skies and bright sunshine.  Judy and I decided to visit a sister state park that is within fifteen miles of Tallulah Gorge, Black Rock Mountain State Park.  The views from the top of Black Rock Mountain were nothing short of magnificent – we even enjoyed these views better than those from Brasstown Bald.

Black Rock Mountain State Park is the highest state park in Georgia encompassing some of the prettiest land in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  It is named for the “biotite gneiss” (dark colored mica laminated into metamorphic rock) that make up the cliffs on this 3,640 foot high mountain which is located along the Eastern Continental Divide.  There are several overlooks that provide spectacular views of the Southern Appalachians along with many hiking trails, waterfalls, cascading streams, and beautiful lush forests.

Beginning with the visitor’s center, we made a few new friends; among them a coyote named Smitty and a timber rattler named Fang – not really, they didn’t have names.

We have done more than enough hiking over the past several days so elected to view whatever we could see from the truck and the visitor’s center.  One fine day we’ll have to go back and experience this park in more detail. So, for now, just sit back and enjoy the rest of the mountain views which we took from the deck at the visitor’s center at the top of the mountain and a couple of turn outs along the way back down the mountain side.

This was a rather relaxing outing for us which we needed.  There is soooo much beauty to be seen up in this area that one hardly knows where to start first.  Western South Carolina and Northwestern North Carolina hold plenty of treasures as well, so we haven’t even scratched the surface.  Between all the mountain vistas and the many waterfalls we could certainly keep ourselves busy; then add the seasons to the equation and it would take a life time to experience it all.