Cloudland Canyon

Cloudland Canyon stunning state park sitting on the western edge of Lookout Mountain near Rising Fawn. The park centers around a deep gorge where layered sandstone cliffs and thickly wooded walls drop hundreds of metres to Sitton Gulch Creek, with two waterfalls tucked away at the bottom. The views looking out over the canyon are breathtaking, and the whole park is especially photogenic in autumn when the hardwoods turn red and gold. You can start at the main overlook near the picnic area parking for the classic view straight into the canyon, explore the flat Overlook Trail for a second viewpoint, and then take the longer West Rim Loop to experiment with even more angles along the edge. Then you can switch gears completely and go down along the Waterfalls Trail to capture the Cherokee Falls and Hemlock Falls. A wide lens (roughly 16-35mm) suits the canyon and the falls, a standard lens (24-70mm) handles general framing and the overlooks, while a longer lens pulls in distant ridge lines or isolates a waterfall. The overlooks look out to the west into the gorge, so the last few hours of daylight into sunset are the amazing, when warm light spreads across the far walls and the sun drops behind the ridges. Autumn is the ideal season to aim for when the leaves are at their peak colours. The main entrance is on top of the mountain off the highway with a staffed gate and a because it is a state park there is an entrance fee. The gates open early and close late so both sunrise and sunset are shooting options. (Rising Fawn, Georgia, USA)