Fort Mountain State Park, Chatsworth, Georgia

 

Blairsville, Georgia  (high 80, low 54)

We decided to drive over to Fort Mountain State Park. It’s 64 miles from us, and was a pretty ride.  We had been there years ago, and remembered it as a beautiful state park.   The road up the mountain had some steep drop-offs and it was better not to look down in some cases.

The park was as nice as we remembered.

We drove around the park and found a sign for an overlook.  It was a short wheelchair accessible trail, with a gorgeous view.

We neglected to pick up a trail map when we entered the park  (duh), but found another beautiful trail that ended up leading to an amazing view of the cities below.

The sign at the trailhead said it was the overlook trail, but it didn’t say how far it was.  It could have been half mile, or it could have been 15 miles.   Unfortunately, there were no maps at the trail head either, so we went in blind.

The trail was lined with huge rocks, but the trail itself was pretty good, with the exception of a few small rocks that you had to watch to avoid tripping.

 

We came to a fork in the trail, with nothing to indicate which direction to the overlook.  I thought we should go up and to the right. Al thought we should take the trail that led down and to the left.   I didn’t argue, since his choice looked a little easier.  

Before long, we came to some steps which led to an amazing view.

The first thing Al said, was “I hope they have maintained this deck.”

 

At one point, we saw some vultures flying right below us.

We headed back down the mountain and then took a drive around the park.  They have a campground, but it’s gated and we didn’t try to go in to see it.  It looks very wooded.  My Verizon signal didn’t work much of the day, so that would be an issue for those who like to stay connected.  You could forget about getting a satellite!

There is a nice lake with a swimming beach, which is pretty popular in the summer.

We took a walk around the lake.  It was very similar to the lake at Vogel State Park.

I’m not sure what the next leaves were, but they sure were pretty.

 

We saw what could have been a fresh bear print. 

We never saw a bear, but we sure kept our eyes open.

We didn’t even begin to see all the park has to offer, including the mysterious rock wall.

The above sign was laid out horizontally on a rock that was higher than we could see over.   Al had to climb up to take this photo.  We never were able to read it until we saw the picture.   I don’t think this was referring to all the rocks along the trail, but I’m really not sure.

We’ll definitely have to go back to this beautiful state park. 

 

Today is the closing on the new RV lot, so we have to go into town at 1pm.  Afterwards, Al will probably play poker with the rest of the geezers, and I’ll probably sit outside in my new chair and read.

Tomorrow is the annual fall festival in Brasstown, North Carolina.  It’s one of the first of many more to come in the next few weeks.  I think they might get rained out on Sunday.

In the meantime, I’m watching Tropical Storm Karen to see where she goes.  It looks like she will end up tracking right over northern Georgia.  As long as there is no intensification, we should only get some rain and wind.

There was another “Karen” a few years ago.  We  got to Guam in 1965, which was a short time after Typhoon Karen almost destroyed the island.  I hope this one fizzles out and doesn’t do any damage.