Hiking Tumbling Waters Trail With Dogs

It had been a while since we'd been on a real hike, so we were game for just about anything when our pal Leslie and her pups Johann, Gracie and Rach asked if we'd like to head out for a hike last weekend.

After some early morning agility practice, we all headed further north near Elijay, Ga., to the Ridgeway Recreation Area at the northeast corner of Carters Lake. 

There we found the start of the Tumbling Waters Trail. 

The trail starts near the top of Carters Lake and winds its way to Tails Creek.

The view of a portion of Carters Lake at the start of the trail

According to some signage near the trailhead, Carters Dam is the highest earth and rock filled dam east of the Mississippi and the lake is the deepest lake in Georgia with the greatest depth exceeding 400 feet.

The lake was named for the community of Carters Quarters which was named for Farrish Carter, a wealthy landowner who lived in the area in the mid 1800's.  

Once we headed down the trail it started getting pretty narrow with a steep drop off to the left side, heading down to the banks of the water. Soon we came upon the bridge that crosses the creek. 

We visited this are about a year ago, but at that time the bridge was being rebuilt so we were only able to do about half the hike.

The path we took traveled about 1.5 miles in and out, a perfect length since we'd already played agility for about two hours.

After crossing the bridge we saw a series of beautiful cascading falls.

Take a look!



We took a break at a nice scenic overlook for a photo opp of all the dogs.

From left to right, Rach, Gracie, Rocco and Johann

We headed back down the path toward the water. Rocco was fascinated with the movement!

Yes, it's a long way down from the bridge. Rocco stops to take a look on the way back.

Rocco and I pause for a quick photo on the way back across the bridge

We had a great day out hiking and can't wait to do it again. We're fortunate to have lots of hiking spots with pretty waterfalls within about a 90 minute drive of us in Atlanta. 

Where are your favorite hiking spots? Let us know in the comments below!

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