time. The two hiking buddies walked deep in the woods as daylight dimmed.

"I looked at my watch and said, 'Ahhh, we're going to be late for dinner,'" Brooks-Carump said Saturday night. " 'We're going to have to run back. ' "

The food, happily, was worth the double-time march.

Shrimp Sea Island as an appetizer followed by a salad of organic greens. Pan-fried trout with a light lemon-butter accompanied by a mix of red rice, brown rice, wild rice and lentils with applewood bacon and sautéed green beans. Desert was a blueberry and peach cobbler certain to be served in Heaven.

That is the unique charm of The Lodge at Smithgall Woods: wilderness within walking distance of a great meal. And a hot tub.

The Lodge at Smithgall Woods is a cluster of five cottages tucked in the northwest corner of the Smithgall Woods Conservation Area, 5,600-acres of hemlock and hardwoods, trails and trout streams. Wealthy newspaper owner Charles A. Smithgall Jr. assembled the acreage in the 1980s and in 1994 sold the White County tract to the state for $10.8 million, half its appraised value of $21.6 million.

Four of the five cottages were built by Smithgall as a family retreat at the convergence of Dover Creek and Dukes Creek.

There is room for no more than 28 guests. Weekends typically see 14 visitors and Saturday night there were just four for dinner.

"We're a niche within a niche market," said general manager John Erbele.

The mainstay of the business is small groups. Six rooms must be reserved for the Lodge to open, Erbele said. Reserving 10 rooms gives you exclusive use of the retreat, he added.

That means arranging a weekend getaway for a couple takes a bit of luck. Reservations for leisure travelers are taken just 90 days out. You can't, for example, call now to reserve the second weekend in October. That's why The Lodge at Smithgall Woods has a reservation system separate from that of Georgia State Parks, Erbele said.

The cottages are more than a mile north of Ga. 75 Alternate, at the end of a narrow lane that winds smoothly along Dukes Creek, the blacktop deeply shaded by hemlock, pine, oak and rhododendron. Staff members driving a golf cart provide an escort to your cottage. Guests staying at Dover and Laurel cottages drive across Dukes Creek at a shallow ford.

Laurel Cottage — like Garden Cottage — is a one-bedroom cabin with kitchen and living room. The living room is furnished with upholstered chair with an ottoman and love seat for reading or watching cable television. At the center of the room is a small wood stove, a built fire awaiting just a flaming match.

The small kitchen seems superfluous — all meals are part of the package.

There are other special appointments — canning jars filled with chocolate nuggets and hard candies, an umbrella should it be raining when it's time to walk to dinner and flashlights in each room because, as a staffer advised, "back here in the woods, the power sometimes does go out."

The best spot in the cabin, though, is the front porch. A rocking chair there overlooking a meadow is an orchestra row seat at a whitewater symphony, the high notes of Dover Creek harmonizing with the deeper rumble of Dukes Creek.

The setting is sublime, but it's not really what makes this a special place. It's the staff.

When greeting guests before dinner Friday night, Erbele offered to drive to nearby Helen to fill any needs. "If it's legal, we'll go get it for you," he said.

"Everyone is so accommodating," said Whitten, of Decatur.

Brooks-Carump and Whitten mentioned it would be nice if there were rocking chairs on the deck of their creekside cabin. Done.

Another guest wondered aloud if juice might be available before an early morning hike and the 9 a.m. breakfast service. A carafe of orange juice was left in the cabin refrigerator.

Before preparing Eggs Benedict for brunch Sunday, chef Marshall "Mac" Parks asked each guest how they like their eggs poached.

Parks is a big part of what makes a weekend at Smithgall Woods worth the tariff. The man can flat out cook. The menu features vegetables, herbs and blueberries grown in the garden next to the main lodge.

It all makes dinner worth running to