Nestled in the Northwest Georgia mountains lies one of GA State Parks hidden gems, James H. (Sloppy) Floyd State Park. The park is located about 10 minutes from Summervile and 25 minutes from Rome, GA. It’s fairly easy to access from I-75 and the drive takes you through some of the hills of NW Georgia.
We were looking for something to do one Sunday afternoon and decided to head up that way just to see what the park has to offer and we were not disappointed at all.
The state park itself encompasses about 560 acres, it has two lakes (really its one lake thats split by a spillway) which is popular for fishing and small boats like kayaks or canoes. They do have a couple of pedal powered boats you can rent from the park office, though we didn’t give those a try as we were there for a different reason.
We had seen photos of the waterfall and old marble mine and were interested in seeing that on this trip, so after paying the $5 parking fee (standard for GA State Parks) we headed across the upper lake on the bridge and started out. The hike is about a mile and a half round trip, there are a couple of different options for getting there, though the Marble Mine Trail is probably the best bet. You can get to the mine via the Jenkins Gap Trail as well, but that trail is a bit more strenuous (we’ll talk a bit about that one in a little bit).
The Marble Mine Trail is a fairly moderate trail good for kids and adults (and dogs too) and its in the shade which is an added bonus. The last little bit is up hill before you get to the mine itself. It isn’t anything too spectacular as far as waterfalls go, but it is neat to see an old marble mine.
There is a bench at the mine itself, but otherwise, there’s few resting places on the short hike.
To make it a little more fun, we took a different way back, the Jenkins Gap trail, which is a little tougher of a hike. The added bonus is that the Pinhoti is a short hike from the mine if you’re looking for something a little longer to hike.
The park itself has several day use pavilions, a playground and several campsites and cabins to stay in as well if you want to make a weekend trip out of it. There’s plenty to do in the area as well. If you’d like more information, check out the Park Map
