Amicalola Falls State Park, located in North Georgia, boasts the tallest cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi, making it a popular, and well traversed park. One thing it also boasts is an ADA trail that leads straight to a beautiful view of the waterfall. I was intrigued because it is hard to find accessible paths to views so close to waterfalls, but I was pleasantly surprised with a beautiful, and lengthy, accessible path right up to the mid-section of Amicalola Falls.
Park Address: 418 Amicalola Falls State Park Rd, Dawsonville, GA 30534
Park Hours: 7:00am-10:00pm
All cars require a $5 GA State Park Pass which can be purchased at the guard kiosk at the entrance of the park, or in the visitor center.
Visitor Center
Visitor Center Hours:
Sunday-Wednesday: 9:00am-5:00pm
Thursday-Saturday: 9:00am-7:00pm
The visitor center at the entrance of the park is a large building with bathrooms, a gift shop, and tons of information on the park and the nearby areas. The parking lot has handicap spaces, but they are across the street from the visitor center. From the cross walk, there is a sidewalk that leads to the visitor center, it’s kinda out of the way, but it gets you where you need to go.
I did not take pictures of the bathroom at the visitor center, and it’s been a few weeks since I visited, so I don’t want to write about that bathroom because I don’t want to give false information. I did review a stand alone bathroom at the top of the waterfall, however, so I will insert pictures further down this post.
The Hike
There is some signage that leads you to the ADA trail in the park:
And here is a small slideshow of pictures of the trail and views of the waterfall from the trail, including several handicap spaces, and spots along the trail that were damaged (and hopefully fixed since I’ve visited):
Accessibility Beyond the ADA Trail
There is still much to see in the park beyond the ADA trail. There is a beautiful scenic view that is accessible at the top of the waterfall, and beyond that there is another building at the very top of the mountain (which I did not go inside of).
Once you leave the ADA trail parking lot and head further up, there is another parking lot with sidewalks and wood paths that lead to a vista right above the flowing water at the top of Amicalola Falls. There are picnic tables around there as well, which makes it a great place to take a break or eat lunch.
If you get back in your car and head up a little bit more, there is a small parking lot and a bathroom. There is one stall for male and one stall for female, but there is plenty of room inside them.
When you get back on the road to go further up, that is where the large building/event center is. There is another, shorter, trail up there as well that is paved, but from the looks of it from my car, the paved trail looked old and cracked from overgrown tree roots, and very very steep/uneven.
Winter is the off season for state parks up here so none of the usual events/tours were happening. If you look on their website, which I will link at the bottom, you can see all that the park has to offer, including the restaurant they have!
Overall
I thought the ADA trail was one of the best I have seen so far, despite the slightly increased grade. The views are definitely worth it. It is also a great park to spend an afternoon, pack a lunch, and enjoy the views.
OT Caroline 