Snow in the Mountains

 

 

Blairsville, Ga, (high 50, low 27)

I can’t remember the last time we’ve been anywhere where the weather was cold as it was yesterday.  The high temperature was only 37 degrees.   The wind was whipping all day long, with the occasional strong gusts that shook the motor home.  The sun never came out, so that made it even worse. 

It was too cold for the heat pumps, but fortunately our two little quartz heaters kept us nice and toasty all day without having to run the furnace.  Our furnace is our least favorite option for heat.  It’s noisy, and the dry air bothers our sinuses.   We turned the furnace on a few times, just to make sure it still worked and to heat up the basement.  We also kept the bay heaters turned on all day.

Today should be a better day.  The sun is already coming out, so we’ll soon be getting some nice free solar power!

We went up to the local favorite Jim’s Smokin’ Que yesterday for some bbq and Brunswick stew.  Afterwards, we decided to take a drive to check out the snow at higher elevations.

Brasstown Bald mountain is the highest peak in Georgia, so we headed that direction.

Despite the wind and cold, there was still some pretty color.

The higher the elevation, the more snow we saw.

It looks so cold up there.

It was a pretty ride.

 

We got up to Brasstown, we discovered the road leading to the visitor center was closed because of all the snow on the road.

It’s a pretty steep road with sheer drop offs, so I guess that was a good idea.  I’ll bet it was pretty from the top of the mountain.

A lot of other people had the same idea, I guess.

Someone made a snowman!

It was a small snowman. Can you see it?

This guy was going hiking.   Burrrrrr

These people were having a snowball fight. Notice the snowball I caught in midair?

We didn’t stay too long, because we turned the heaters off while we were gone and the little darlins were probably freezing.  :)   Just because they have fur, doesn’t mean they don’t get cold too.

This is a view of our campground.  You can see the trees are getting pretty bare.

There is still some nice color around the campground though.

Right across the street from our lot.

 

Our lot.

Since it was so bitter cold yesterday, we got nothing done in our preparations to head south.  We we won’t be leaving tomorrow.   Al still needs to drain the waterheater and washing machine in the cabin.  The hot tub also needs draining, cleaning and winterizing.  Hopefully the weather today will be more conducive to working outside.

We love our little home in the mountains, but I think it’s time to head south.

What do you think?

Bear Hair Gap Trail – Vogel State Park in Blairsville, Georgia

 

Blairsville, Georgia  (high 85, low 64)

Along with much of the rest of the country, we have had a bit of a heat wave.  We got some heavy rain last night with 1.5 inches falling.  Unfortunately, is didn’t bring a cold front with it.

The other day, we went to the Mountain Crossings outfitter which is in an old Civilian Conservation Corps building that was completed in 1937, which was the same year the Appalachian Trail was completed.  The AT actually passed right through a part of the building.

They serve some 2000 hikers each year on their journey to Maine. Anything you need for hiking can be found there, and it’s a fun place to visit.

My old Merrell hiking shoes had been hurting my toes when going downhill. My toes were  jamming into the front of the shoe.   I decided to go to Mountain Crossings where they had people that could help me get some properly fitting shoes.  They have an incline board so that you can simulate walking both up and down the mountain.  It’s a great way to make sure your feet aren't going to slide down and jam your toes into the front of the shoes.

My old shoes were an 8, which is 1 size larger than I normally wear, but they were still too short.  I wanted to make sure the new ones fit properly.

I tried on a few Merrell shoes and then the salesman brought me a Keen waterproof shoe.  It was so comfortable, and much more than the Merrells. I went back and forth between 8.5 and 9’s.  I have never worn anything that large, and they actually looked huge on my feet.   He said I would be better erring on the larger size than the smaller size, so I ended up with a size 9!

We also ended up buying some nice Merino Wool socks, and they really are nice.  I guess we’ll have to get another pair or two.

 

So, armed with new shoes and socks, the next morning, we decided to head over to nearby Vogel State Park, and hike the Bear Hair Gap Trail.

The Coosa Backcountry trail is 12 miles.  There are no shortages of hiking trails around here.

None of the trails around here are flat.

It’s listed as either a 3 mile or a 3.6 mile trail.  We figured out the actual trail is 3 miles, but there is a .6 mile connector that leads you to one of two trails, and that’s after you walk another half mile or so to the start of the trails.

We heard there is bear activity in the park with 2 mothers.  One with 2 cubs and one with three.

This was all we saw of any bear activity.

Most all the trails around here have streams and waterfalls.  Some more spectacular than others.

There are plenty of rocks.  Little ones.

Big ones

This is a photo from a hike there last fall.

 

Rocks with trees growing on top of them.

Pretty rocks.

shiny rocks

This was the bridge where Nancy and Bill found the Buckeye tree.

They were nice enough to bring us a few, but our goal was to find a few on our own.  They are said to be lucky if you carry one in your pocket. 

Success….or was it luck, since Al had one in his pocket?

 

It was a nice hike, and we will go back when the leaves start to turn.  It isn’t a difficult hike, but like all hikes here in the mountains, there are no shortages of inclines!

 

p.s.  My new Keen hiking shoes were very comfy, with no toes jamming into the front of the shoe.

Carters Lake Recreational Area

 

Blairsville, Georgia  (high , low 43)

 

We are winding down our stay here in north Georgia and are trying to see some more of the places we haven’t been to yet.  There are still lots of places left, so I guess we’ll have to come back again.

Our neighbors told us about Carters Lake was, so we decided to check it out.

I wish we had been there about a week earlier. The fall foliage was fading and leaves were dropping.

We headed west towards Ellijay, Georgia.  Ellijay is a big apple producing town and home of the Apple Festival we went to a few weeks ago. We stopped in town and visited some of the little shops.   Most were antiques, which to me look more  like junk, so we didn’t stay long.

It was windy yesterday, and even though the temperature was about the same as the day before, it felt pretty cold.

We didn’t realize how large Carters Lake was until we got there.  It’s a man made lake, 450 feet deep, with 3200 surface acres and 62 miles of shoreline.  It also boasts 3 separate campgrounds, one of which is primitive.

We drove up the main road and found a scenic overlook with a trail to another overlook by the dam.  (notice Syl, I’m spelling it correctly!)

Syl sent me an email yesterday informing me I had been spelling dam wrong.  Oops.   Thanks Syl.

 

You can see that the leaves are really dropping.

 

We walked along the trail through the woods overlooking the lake, being careful not to fall down and roll into the water.

 

Lots of views of the lake.  One brave boater was out in the cold wind.

There is still a lot of pretty fall colors.

The trail led to a welcome center and another beautiful overlook.  We didn’t stay at the welcome center  long because they must have had the heat turned up to 85 degrees and it was HOT.  Plus, we had a lot of ground to cover.  There was a lot of information about the dam.  We’ll have to learn all about it next time.

The grounds surrounding the welcome center were pretty nice.

 

 

There was a power plant hiding down below the red trees.

 

I was interested in what was growing at the top of this tree.

It looked a little red, and when I zoomed in, this is what I found.

pretty, huh?

We walked back to the car and continued to drive around this area, which is huge.

Eventually we came upon this beautiful rock wall.  You can see the scenic overlook building is in the center top of the picture.  That was where I was when I took the pictures above.

They used the natural rock formations to help build the dam, as you can see in the next picture.

It’s really a beautiful area with so many photo opportunities.

I decided to make a panoramic photo to better illustrate how incredible it looks.

Plenty of colorful trees remain.

I liked the rock showing the different layers.

I wish they offered a guided tour, so that someone could explain what all these parts of the dam are. Maybe I should have taken more time in the visitor center.

Lots of pretty rock formations.

This area  There are 3 campgrounds.  We put Woodring Branch Campground  into the GPS and it took us forever to get there, even if was just a few miles as the crow flies.  Unfortunately the CG was closed for the winter.  We were able to walk inside and talk to a volunteer for a few minutes.

This is one of the volunteer sites, but the rest of the sites were waaaaay down the road and we never did find them by walking downnnnnn the hill.  It was too cold and windy for much walking.

The volunteer said the campground on the lake called Doll Mountain CG, had better and more level sites for larger rigs.  According to the brochure, they have lots of lake front sites.  We’ll go back next summer and check it out better.

here is a brochure for Doll Mountain CG.

The price is right if you have the Senior pass.

Carter Lake recreation area is a wonderful area with minimal development anywhere nearby.  We drove forever to just navigate around the lake and surrounding property.

 

Reluctantly, we left Carters lake, vowing to go back again on a warmer day. It would be a fun kayak trip with all the little coves around the lake.  

Today, is work day.  We have to finish some trim painting on the cabin at the rental lot.  Al is doing some plumbing to extend the sewer connection, and he is going to wrap our water pipes…..just in case.    I think the wind has died down today, so if it’s not too chilly, I plan on doing some power washing and trimming of a few plants.  

Our time here is winding down.   When we have a cloudy and windy day, we start thinking Florida sounds good.  When it’s sunny and nice, we think about staying here.  Today is sunny and nice!