Fall Foliage Tour

 

Blairsville, Georgia (high 70, low 58)

We had a sunny day yesterday, so we decided to take advantage of the weather and do another fall foliage drive.  (one of many)

I will apologize in advance for so many photos.  I just couldn’t narrow them down any more.  I took wayyyyyy  more than I posted.  :)

It looks like we will be having the potential of rain the next two days, but that seems to change from hour to hour, so we’ll see.  I’m getting a little worried about the approaching cold front that has the potential to bring tornados.  You know me when it comes to bad weather.  Why wait and worry later when you can start worrying now!

Yesterday morning, this big hawk was sitting on our deck, eyeing our bird feeders.  The picture didn’t turn out well because I was in too big of a hurry to give Al the go ahead to shoo him away.  We don’t want him eating any of our birds.  That was the second time I’ve seem him stalking our feeders.

Our trip started heading down to Unicoi State Park and Anna Ruby Falls. I needed to exchange a t-shirt I bought that was too small, and highway 75 is a scenic road, so we thought it would be a good place to start.

On the whole, the colors seem more muted and less vibrant than normal fall foliage, but there are areas where they are pretty spectacular.

It was a pretty day with blue skies.

I believe this dock was on Lake Hiawassee, which seems to be a little low right now.

Lots of windy mountain roads.

 

You can see in the distance the mountain colors are not nearly as vibrant as usual.  I guess wet summer really does make a difference.

But some areas were really spectacular.

We took highway 180 back towards Rivers Edge and decided to drive up to the highest peak in Georgia, which is at Brasstown Bald Mountain.  The top of the mountain is at 4784 feet elevation.

We got in free with Al’s  Senior Access pass, but opted to pay the $2.00 each to take the van from the parking lot, to the top.  There is a .6 mile paved trail that’s pretty much straight up. 

We were glad we took the van up, because the van driver told us a few things that we didn’t know.

For instance, the reason the mountains often look hazy (smokey) is because:

“This fog is caused by the vegetation exhaling volatile organic compounds, chemicals that have a high vapor pressure and easily form vapors at normal temperature and pressure.”

Some days, we see what looks like smoke from a big fire, but I never have quite been able to capture those images. 

Yesterday, was particularly hazy so the distance shots weren’t too good.  We were told the best time to come is when it’s cold.  That shouldn’t be a problem since another cold front is on the way.

The next picture is where we parked our truck.  You can see it’s a good ways UP to get to the top.

There was some color, but also a lot of bare trees.

We decided to walk back down the trail to the parking lot.

I think being paved made it more difficult that a regular trail.  It was hard on my knees and toes.

This tree needed a little boost to keep from falling down.

The lowest temperature ever recorded on “the bald” was –27 degrees and the warmest was 84.  Yikes.   They say it makes it’s own weather.

 

Once we left there, we were almost home, but we found more pretty scenery.

 

Most of the grass in our campground is brown since the freezes we had, but for some reason these pastures are still pretty and green.

We love to drive the back roads around Blairsville.

 

Once we got home, we decided to get our refreshments and take a long drive around the neighborhood on the golf cart.  It’s been a bit chilly lately for the golf cart, but last night was warm and really nice.

The fall colors were pretty nice around Rivers Edge.

The next picture shows Rivers Edge Rv Park from above on the road leading to Rivers Edge II Rv park.   Off to the left sits Brasstown Bald.

This a favorite stopping spot for us.  We always expect to see a bear here…..but never do.

These are some of the prettiest maple trees in the park.  They have gotten a little past their peak, but are still pretty nice.

 

No plans for today.  We had intended to do some hiking, but the weather changed and it’s cloudy and supposed to rain.  I guess we’ll tackle some chores around the house.