Explore Sky Valley this Fall: Fall festival, leaf peeping, golf, pickleball

SKY VALLEY, Ga. — It’s that time of year—fall colors, cooler temps, and fun festivals! You can enjoy all three with a trip to Sky Valley and its Fall Festival!

“It just gets bigger every year,” Sky Valley City Manager Jason Streetman said. “We plan and budget for that. There’s everything from food trucks to car shows to hayrides for the kids and young adults down to (Mud Creek Falls).”

The Fall Festival at Sky Valley returns on Saturday, Oct. 19, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the old Sky Valley Ski Resort lodge parking lot. Expect great fun, a hay bale decorating competition, and more!

“(Sky Valley) is a special place,” Streetman noted. “If you ever get up in the mountains in the middle of October, that’s kind of the peak of the leaf colors and the crisp mountain air. You just can’t beat it.”

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Sky Valley, Ga. It’s that time of year—fall colors, cooler temps, and fun festivals! You can enjoy all three with a trip to Sky Valley and its Fall Festival! (Nelson Hicks)

Never heard of Sky Valley? It’s Georgia’s highest incorporated city, right on the North Carolina line in Rabun County.

There used to be a ski resort at the top of Sky Valley.

“During the late 1960′s, a group of investors purchased a 2,500-acre cattle ranch in the area and developed the Sky Valley Resort for snow skiing in the North Georgia Mountains,” notes the city of Sky Valley’s website. “In 1969, the Sky Valley Resort opened as the southernmost ski resort community in the United States with the only snow skiing facilities in Georgia.”

At its peak, over 25,000 skiers would visit each year.

These days, the ski slopes have been replaced by the Sky Valley Country Club, offering a range of activities, including championship golf.

“The course is very playable,” Sky Valley Country Club’s Ryan DeBois noted. “It’s a fun course. There are some high-elevation shots but we are nestled up in this valley so we have some flat areas. We’ve got waterfalls on the course, lakes on the course, elevated tees and elevated greens.”

Between the great golf and all the activities in the area, Sky Valley Country Club has been added to the Georgia Golf Trail.

“While you’re here playing golf, what is there to do?” Doug Hollandsworth from the Georgia Golf Trail said. “We’re in beautiful Rabun County and they do a great job of promoting the Northeast Georgia mountains and what all there is to do here. So, Sky Valley is just a part of this beautiful county and we’re very excited to have Sky Valley as part of the Georgia Golf Trail.”

The unique thing about the Georgia Golf Trail is it highlights not only great golf courses, but courses that offer plenty of family fun in the immediate area. Sky Valley is great for a guys’ golfing weekend, but it’s great for a family getaway, too. Bring the family and those not playing golf can experience pickleball.

“We have organized play, open play from 9 to 12 on Monday through Saturday,” Vickie Heher noted. “We have all kinds of players.”

“We welcome anybody here,” Heher continued. “You just come up, put your paddle, and then we get you in to play. We have a very friendly group. Anybody is welcome.”

Visiting the area? Grab your paddle, head to the pickleball courts, and strike up a fun game—and some good conversation— with both visitors and locals.

See the waterfall at Mud Creek Falls

After a game of pickleball, head out for a hike. Rabun County has dozens of waterfall trails, including the stroll to Mud Creek Falls.

“This (hike) is very easy,” hiker Debbie Dalhouse said. “It’s maybe 100 yards from a parking area down the trail to see (the waterfall). There are several other (waterfalls) in Rabun County that are 1/2 mile to a mile walk that are also easy.”

Hemlock Falls, Angel Falls, and Panther Falls are nearby as well, with options for both beginner and expert hikers.

The Sky Valley Country Club also offers croquet, though it’s reserved for members. Still, seeing the beautiful croquet lawn is just one more glimpse into the area’s many athletic activities.

“I call Sky Valley a hidden treasure,” resident Howard Beckert noted. “We have so many opportunities here. Obviously, the club here has (an) unbelievably great golf course. Our croquet lawn, our club was named in 2018 as the best new club in the United States. We have here with Sky Valley, we have pickleball, we have tennis, we have a fitness center. We have the weather that you can get outside. I do a lot of hiking.”

Thinking about visiting?

“I think Sky Valley is just a wonderful place,” Heher noted. “The weather is perfect for it, everybody enjoys this cool, nice (weather). When you’re in Atlanta and it’s 111 degrees, and we’re up here and (it’s) 81 (degrees) at the highest, you know. It’s fun to come out and enjoy life, and fresh air, and the mountains. And I just think you’re missing out if (you don’t come). It’s a gem up here.”

Visitors can find Airbnb and VRBO rentals in Sky Valley, and there are several hotels nearby.

“Sky Valley is a unique place,” Beckert noted. “It’s kind of neat because it is off the map and therefore, when you find it, you go ‘Oh my gosh, this is really a great place.’”

And if all that isn’t enough, fall visitors will be treated to a stunning display of changing leaves.

“You can not beat the mountains, you can not beat Sky Valley in the Fall,” Streetman noted. “The leaves will be popping around (the Fall Festival on Oct. 19). Please come. Please stop by and say hello. I’d love to meet anybody and everybody that wants to come by.

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The story is sponsored by Explore Rabun.

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