Watson Mill Bridge State Park – September 2009

On Sunday, Lisa and I decided to take trip to Watson Mill Bridge State Park. Because we also wanted to grab some lunch, we stopped along the way in Athens for some pizza from Fox’s Den Pizza. We had never been there before, but the food wasn’t too bad (for a pizza joint).

While looking for Fox’s Den Pizza (the GPS took us to the wrong intersection… surprise), we decided to stop and take a short break. Here we are in Athens stopped in the shade in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

Once we found Fox’s Den Pizza and ate, we headed on our way. At the point when I took this picture, we were within just a few miles of Watson Mill Bridge State Park. I have been generally happy with the GPS on my Goldwing, but in this case, it really let us down. It either wanted us to take dirt roads to reach our destination, or as in this case, a dead-end road. Really? I would have thought that GPS made specifically for a motorcycle would be smart enough to avoid dead-end roads and dirt roads, but I suppose not.

Despite the navigation trouble, we made it in one piece. The park was nice… a bit small, but nice. Here is a shot of the bridge I took while we were sitting in the shade of one of the few buildings scattered on the property.

Here is a shot of the falls and the sliding rocks just past the bridge. There was a mix of people sunbathing, swimming, having lunch, and even riding a mountain bike along these rocks.

This is what I assume is a holding pond for the falls. Just to the left of this image were a few small paddle boats that were tied to a dock. I wasn’t sure if they were for people to use or if they were for the staff only. There wasn’t anyone around to ask.

We walked a small trail to get us down to the sliding rocks, and I found several of these smaller waterfalls. We ended up in a nice, quiet, shady area where we could sit, relax, and people-watch.

In the same area as the small waterfalls, I found this interesting tree formation. Yeah, I’ve seen more interesting formations, but this one still caught my eye.

Lisa decided to take a break and use this tree as a seat. Seemed comfortable enough.

Just before we left, I got this wide shot of the bridge and the sliding rocks. I really enjoyed being at the park with Lisa, and the views, while small, were still fascinating. I think the next park we visit will be the Hard Labor Creek State Park, but I’m not sure. Maybe we’ll visit all of them in Georgia in our lifetime… would make for a nice goal to reach.