Stone Mountain State Park, Atlanta Georgia

climbing to the top of a mountain, made completely of stone, with two kids . . .

are we crazy?

What a wonderful gem this place is. A wonderful place that we accidentally found.

If you are new to our story or how we travel, Welcome.

We are the Allen's. We travel full time as family travel journalist in our Sabre 5th wheel.

Yes, that makes us full time campers and we LOVE it.

Stone Mountain State Park

So, a mountain made of stone. What does that even mean? Well, technically this mountain is completely made of granite. When you visit, they will teach you ALL about it. So no spoilers here. Learning about this magnificent place is half the fun.

Before my random google search (that went something like "cool stuff to do in Georgia in September") brought up Stone Mountain, I had never heard of such a thing before. There is so much history here and I was blown away by how many attractions there are!

This State Park is MASSIVE. So many historical sites. Walking/hiking trails for days. A train ride, the Summit Skyride, museums, restaurants, retail stores, a campground, laser shows, the Memorial Carving (of course), Exhibits, seasonal festivals, and the list goes on! It's like an amusement park, meets historical site, meets state park. There is something for everyone here.

Stone Mountain is a family based historical attraction, and it is perfect for little ones as well. Ours being 3 & 6 years old. We have traveled to places that were geared towards older kids and not so much busy and wild toddlers. Stone Mountain however, is great for all ages. With so many experiences available you are able to pick and choose what will suit you and your family best.

Stone Mountain State Park Campground

The campground itself is amazing.

The views, the cleanliness, the playground, the pool...it was great. We could have just stayed there and we would have been perfectly entertained and happy. A full week just wasn't enough. The lake that the campground was built next too was beautiful, if you see any pictures of a lake in this blog, yep...it's our campground lake. It was a favorite spot of ours. We were able to access it from so many different spots within the campground and each access point is a whole new view, a completely different experience.

Our campsite had an entire wooden deck/porch. A fire pit, and a charcoal grill. The spot was a tad tight for our rig once we were all opened and set up. We are 42 foot long with a bike rack on the back, slides on both sides, and an outdoor kitchen with a lift up door that sticks out about 4 foot. Oh and not to mention we drive a long bed F250. We're big and we know it. This is where Nick's past big rig driving skills come into major play. This man can get us in and out of some seriously tight spots. It amazes me. Sometimes I just have to look away and know that he's got this.

The campground was not just for those who do RV or tent camping. There were these beautiful yurts all over as well. Most of the yurts overlooked the lake and all I could imagine is how the porch overlooking the lake would make for a stunning morning coffee view, or maybe a Redbull if you're my husband. There are also Rv sites that can be rented even if you do not have your own RV, they have them on site. Or if you're into tent camping, but want a little bit more, they have a Safari Tent style rental as well. So many options, to accommodate capers of all sorts.

The Pumpkin Festival

When I found this location, one of the major "booking points" for me was that it was perfect timing for the Pumpkin Festival. It may seem small but this was a bucket list experience for me, to take my family to an amazing fall festival. One that had activities for the kids, funky halloween music, pumpkins everywhere, and everything that puts you in the mood for halloween.

Before I tell you about how cool this festival is, I have to take you back. Explain exactly why an experience such as a this made my bucket list.

When we first began our journey as parents, back in 2016, I had tried to attend something super "festive" for the fall holidays. Timing just never seemed to be on our side between Nick & I's work. When he would be off, I would have to work. When I was off, he would have to work. It seemed that there was always something, especially during this time of year. Holidays of any kind are just busy. Before we knew it, the season was over and it was on to the next seasons festivities. So we would have another year of memories doing the same thing. Getting a pumpkin from our local farmers market, carving it, and then going trick or treating. Typically those things were done quickly after work, late in the evening, or on a weekend where we were exhausted and truly just doing what we could to please my wanna be festive heart.

Well, we finally did it!

This mama was able to take her family to a fall festival at the base of a mountain made of granite. We listened to all the funky halloween music, watched all of shows and performances. We even had Mother Goose tell us a story and put on a puppet show.

Stone Mountain State Park is an amazing place all on its own, but add in The Pumpkin Festival and it was a win win for us. There was an entire section of the park that was totally decked out in all things fall, halloween, and of course pumpkins. This is where the festival activities took place. It was the first few days of the festival when we arrived and it was also during the week when we visited the section that was the pumpkin festival, so we were able to completely miss the crowds. If you have been following us for a while or have read any of our blogs you know that this is how we attend most everything, if we can. Early at opening time or during the week. Crowds and waiting in line just isn't our jam, especially with a very strong willed 3 year old.

Climbing Stone Mountain with two little kids

This mountain is huge. Period. The closer you get to the base of it, the taller it becomes. Walking around the park and visiting the other attractions on site, we were extremely confident in our ability to hike to the top, with both kids. As the week went on we waited for the best weather. I mentally prepared for it. Todays the day! We arrive to the base of the mountain, look all the way up, look at each either other, take a look down at the tired kids at our feet and then. . .

"NOPE".

That is the only word we both said, perfectly timed , followed by us both busting out laughing. Great minds think alike, as they say.

Now I am a big believer of "if there is a will there is a way". There was no will on this day.

So Nick does what any good dad would do to get us to the top of this mountain (so he didn't have to carry us all up on his back) and he walks over to the ticket booth and buys us all a ticket to ride The Summit Skyride to the top. Best. Decision. Ever.

This little beauty saved us. I'm not going to lie, we were overly ambitious parents thinking our (at the time) 2 year old was going to hike up this mountain, with no backpack carrier. His little legs would have never made it to the top. Nor would our backs have from carrying his 45lb hulk-self.

So if you are visiting Stone Mountain with little ones, or are not a "lets hike this jumbo mountain for fun" type...you can purchase The Summit Skyride tickets at the entrance, the retail store or even online. The ride was absolutely beautiful as you gradually get higher and higher. It moves quite quickly, at least quicker than I had expected it to, and the suspense builds as you make your way up the mountain.

Once again, we went as early as we could so we had this Skyride car basically all to ourselves. It was just us and one other family. Typically each "car" should hold about 30 people (I could be off a bit). It seems that our toddler being an early bird pays off. Waking the entire family up at 5:30- 6 am allows us to get to almost everywhere first. Thanks, buddy.

The view once on top of this mountain was INSANE. There are no words to explain what it's like. Knowing that the entire mountain we were standing on was Granite, yet there was nature and wildlife all around. We could see downtown Atlanta clear as day. The wind was intense and made us move a bit slower to keep our footing. The kids however did not have a hard time running around. It was really a surreal moment to watch our two little dudes playing, exploring, running, jumping, and just being kids...ON TOP OF A MOUNTAIN.

This experience should be on your Must See List for Georgia. I am 10/10 impressed and in love. I would recommend staying a bit longer than a weekend if possible. There is so much to see and do, I would have felt overwhelmed if we would have tried to see it all in a weekend. I am thankful for our week but even that didn't seem to be long enough. Stone Mountain State Park is one of those places that you can revisit multiple times and not have the feeling that you have done it all or have been there before. With all of the attractions available and the different seasons festivals they have planned, there is always something to look forward to. We spent an entire week exploring the park and hanging in our campground and we STILL did not see it all. When we come back to Georgia we will most defiantly be returning to explore some more.

Have any questions? Drop a comment below! We do our best to get back to every message as quickly as we can. We are typically traveling in pretty remote locations with limited connectivity so we just ask that you be patient with us.

Happy Travels. Sincerely,

Sara