Unicoi is another absolute favorite for us. It is just over the mountain so it's close to home for us. We love that it's nestled right in the mountains and a little out of the way, yet close to Helen. There is just SO much to do at Unicoi. You can camp, stay in a cabin or stay in the lodge. There is a restaurant on site, you can Zipline, swim, fish, kayak, canoe, hike, picnic, playgrounds, and more.
We stayed in the lodge when we came and we want to go back so bad and stay in the barrel cabins. Although Unicoi is a GA state park, it is not included in the rewards program, which is a major bummer. The lodge looks really rustic on the outside, which we love. I don't like new and modern at state parks. I like rustic. But the rooms were much nicer than expected and were just like a hotel room. There is nowhere to park near your room, and there are no elevators, so it was a bit of work to carry all our stuff up there. There's no balcony or private outdoor space, which we really love having. There are some fire pits, swings, and porches that you can sit outside though. The lodge has the restaurant beside it as well as a playground, and some hiking trails.
During our stay, we spent a lot of time down at the lake. It was never too busy and the water felt great. We would watch people Zipline over us. In the evenings, we would walk the trail around the lake. We brought all our food out to one of the picnic tables by the lake and grilled out. We went into the camping area and explored, because they have a bunch of day use areas where you can play in the creek, picnic, and play on the playgrounds. The Visitor Center over there was really cool with a lot of gifts, supplies for camping, and a cool interpretive center with a bunch of taxidermy animals.
