​When I bought the new 2 person backpacking tent for my Sweetwater Creek State Park trip, I didn't necessarily have a backpacking trip in mind - just some future possibility of a trip.  That changed quite quickly - 2 days home from Sweetwater and I got the backpacking bug. Where to go? Where is my old backpack? How many miles? Is my sleeping bag going to keep me warm? Can I do it??
In Georgia State Parks, backcountry camping within park bounds exists at Black Rock Mountain, Cloudland Canyon, F.D. Roosevelt, Fort Mountain, and Providence Canyon.   For my quest purposes, Black Rock Mtn, Providence Canyon, and Cloudland Canyon were the possibilities for my first backpacking trip.  And I was ready.  Like let's-do-this and see-some-fall-colors-while-doing-it kind of ready.  Cloudland Canyon was the winner.  And soon too - 2 weeks was the time from "Dream" to "Do".

This was a return visit to Fort Mountain State Park (as denoted by the #8b) to earn my Junior Ranger Park Pin.  I hiked the short, paved Cool Springs Overlook and sat on the bench at the platform to complete the workbook (using this and my previous visit as reference).

​I'd never been to Sweetwater Creek State Park, and although I'd heard about 'Sweetwater' for years, I think it was the campground and day use park (Sweetwater Park) on Lake Allatoona in Canton, GA referred to.  The State Park is in Lithia Springs, near Six Flags Over Georgia.  
I anticipated the drive to Sweetwater Creek State Park to be interstate filled, but my GPS took me through old Marietta and back roads, which made the park seem not so far away.  My reservations were for the walk-in campsites (they have 5 tent sites in the Yurt Village).  I had packed my big 10 person tent (disco party, anyone?? hehe), but stopped in Kennesaw at REI to look at smaller (backpacking) tents.