A close-up of one of these flowers along the paths. The vividness of the yellow and orange in this flower is amazing.
Tv: 1/800
Av: 6.3
Exposure Compensation: -2/3
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 49.0 mm
White Balance: Daylight 
Black and white photo taken right after I took the picture just below.
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Av: 5.0
Exposure Compensation: -2/3
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 35.0 mm
White Balance: Daylight
These flowers were just too colorful to pass up. The white, orange, yellow and green colors are so vibrant this time of year.
Tv: 1/800
Av: 5.0
Exposure Compensation: -1
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 38.0 mm
White Balance: Daylight
I did a little post-photo editing on this picture to see how rich and vibrant I could make an already colorful shot. I think it turned out well.
Tv: 1/100
Av: 11.0
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 55.0 mm
White Balance: Daylight
I thought the lush green of the ivy in this shot would make for a good photo...especially the way the foreground is in the sun and contrasted with the shade in the background.
Tv: 1/30
Av: 8.0
Exposure Compensation: +1/3
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 18.0 mm
White Balance: Daylight
These were some bright little flowers growing all alone by themselves at the base of a big pine tree.
Tv: 1/15
Av: 7.1
Exposure Compensation: +1/3
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 35.0 mm
White Balance: Daylight
Kind of a nice contrast between the shadows of the dark green leaves and the pink in the flower.
Tv: 1/30
Av: 14.0
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 55.0 mm
White Balance: Daylight
This is a nice shot of the visitor's center on a very nice early spring day.
Tv: 1/30
Av: 18.0
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 18.0 mm
I wish I knew the name of these flowers, because they were all over the place.
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Av: 14.0
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 43.0 mm
On the weekend of March 4, 2006, I went hiking along with 3 good friends in Tallulah Gorge.
The park is located about an hour and a half drive northeast of Athens near the town of Tallulah Falls, GA.
Tallulah Gorge has several claims to fame. Besides being one of the most beautiful and striking places on earth, the movie "Deliverance" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deliverance) was filmed in and around Tallulah Gorge. Also, Karl Wallenda (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Wallenda) tightroped across the gorge in 1970 in front of 30,000 people.
I had heard from several people that the park was a great place to visit and was beautifully scenic, and I wasn't disappointed when I got there. Being down on the gorge floor will make you feel very small. The hike wasn't exactly what I expected, though. It was much tougher than I thought it would be before I went.
To gain access to the gorge floor, one must walk down ~750 stairs to the swinging cable suspension bridge that crosses the gorge. From there, there are another ~500 steps that lead down to the gorge floor. You must obtain a free permit at the Jane Hurt Yarn Interpretive Center before hiking on the floor. There is really no "trail" along the floor, just a rather rugged hike over boulders of all size...and the hike requires some jumping from rock to rock and a willingness to get a little wet and dirty.
Once at the end of the gorge floor trail, you must cross back over the river and begin the trek up Sliding Rock trail, a fairly steep vertical trail that was the most strenuous portion of the hike. It ascends up the southern side of the gorge for about a 1/4 mile and most of it is climbing (sometimes on hands and knees) over rocks and through woods. Once at the top, you can see the Wallenda Tower (picture below) and then take one of two routes back to the Visitor's Center: either follow the south rim trail around the dam or turn right and take the ~600 stairs back down to the swinging bridge and then climb the ~750 stairs that you descended on your way into the gorge. This is the route I took...and I can tell anyone who may be reading that it's not and easy climb after you've hiked for nearly 2 1/2 or 3 hours along the gorge floor and back up the Sliding Rock trail. My leg muscles are still a little sore three days after the trip!
All in all, though, it's a beautiful place and I plan on going back soon. Below is the web site for Tallulah Gorge State Park. I highly recommend a visit to the park and a trip down to the swinging bridge, at least. The gorge floor hike may be too much for small children or those with health problems. However, the stairs alone will provide a good workout for anyone. If you do happen to visit and decide to hike the gorge floor, be careful and don't litter!
The following 25-35 pictures are from my trip.
http://gastateparks.org/info/tallulah/
I didn't take this picture, but I thought it was an excellent shot of the falls.
I went on the trip with 3 good friends.
Ok, so the first two pictures aren't mine...but I wanted to put them on here because I thought they were good and I wanted a few pictures to document that I was actually there.
That's me in the hat.
This is probably my favorite of all the photographs I took on this day. It's the view straight down from the bridge, but it almost looks like it could be the wall of the gorge itself.
There's something about it that I like.
Tv: 1/50
Av: 5.0
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 40.0 mm
This is one of my favorites. This is what you see when you're standing on the bridge looking over the side. It was a bit tricky to get a good picture off the bridge because the thing was swinging from side to side all the time!
Tv: 1/100
Av: 11.0
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 55.0 mm
This is the view from the first overlook on the trail we hiked.
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Av: 11.0
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 34.0 mm
This is the bridge you have to cross to get down to the gorge floor. It's suspended 80 feet above the floor by cables...and it does swing.
This would've been a better picture if I hadn't over-compensated for the brightness of the horizon, but it's a nice look at the bridge.
Tv: 1/8
Av: 25.0
Exposure Compensation: +2/3
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 28.0 mm
A wide color view of Oceana Falls. I like the color of the water on this one.
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Av: 6.3
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 21.0 mm
A wider view of Oceana Falls than the one just below.
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Av: 6.3
Exposure Compensation: -1
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 24.0 mm
Oceana Falls is the first waterfall at the start of the floor trail.
Tv: 1/400
Av: 8.0
Exposure Compensation: -1
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 45.0 mm
I think I like this B&W photo better than the color one right below.
Tv: 1/1000
Av: 3.5
Exposure Compensation: -1/3
ISO: 800
Focal Length: 24.0 mm
