Georgia Mountains Catch-up ;o) – Saturday, Aug 16 to Friday, Aug 22, 2014

Saturday, August 16th, taking a break and running errands.
 
We leave Saturdays to everybody else. 
 
Instead of hiking and touring, we just take a break and get our errands done.
 
While doing our errands,
 
we found the Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow…
 
 
It is open on Saturday from 7am to noon and Tuesday from 3pm to 7pm.
 
It’s large enough to have a great selection, but small enough to be fun!!!
 
We managed 3 trips there during our stay :o))
16a - Saturday Farmers Market16b - Saturday Farmers Market16c - Saturday Farmers Market
 
Don’t miss this gem if you visit this area!!!
 
 
 
Sunday, August 17th, we planned to hike to DeSoto Falls and visit Vogel State Park.


17a - Sunday - DeSoto Falls
 
17b - Sunday - DeSoto Falls
 
Click on any photo to enlarge or hover your mouse on any photo for a description
 
The hikes to both falls are short and relatively easy. 
 
Unfortunately, the water level was very low and the falls were just a trickle ;o((
17c - Sunday - DeSoto Falls - approaching the lower falls  17c - Sunday - DeSoto Falls - the lower falls 
 
It would have been a great walk in the woods, except for the sound of motorcycles!!
 
There was some type of rally or bike ride along the road next to Desoto.  I’m sure they were having a great time, but the noise was more than either of us wanted to hear.  Since Vogel State Park is also along this road, we decided to let them have Sunday and we would visit Vogel State Park on a quieter day during the week.
 
 
 
Tuesday, August 19th, we kayaked Lake Nottley with Karen and Al.
 
These are my favorite types of adventures, we just followed where they led us:o))
 
You can check out their post here.
 
Click on any photo to enlarge or hover your mouse on any photo for a description
 
19a - Tuesday - Nottely Lake Kayak - crossing Nottely Dam
19b - Tuesday - Nottely Lake Kayak - Poteete Creek Rec Area - put in spot19c - Tuesday - Nottely Lake Kayak - Poteete Creek Rec Area - preparing to kayak Lake Nottely
19d - Tuesday - Nottely Lake Kayak - Poteete Creek Rec Area - heading across Lake Nottely
19e - Tuesday - Nottely Lake Kayak - looking back at the launch spot19f - Tuesday - Nottely Lake Kayak - paddling around the islands19g - Tuesday - Nottely Lake Kayak - Great Blue Heron on edge of island
19h - Tuesday - Nottely Lake Kayak - Al & Karen enjoying the views19i - Tuesday - Nottely Lake Kayak - Captain My Captain19j - Tuesday - Nottely Lake Kayak - Beautiful Lakefront homes19k - Tuesday - Nottely Lake Kayak - View of Nottely Dam from the lake
 
Thanks Karen and Al for a great day on the lake!!
 
19m - Tuesday - Nottely Lake Kayak - Great Day On The Lake
 
 
 
Wednesday, August 20th, we hiked at Vogel State Park, just 3 miles away:o))
 
All the trails, except the lake trail begin behind the visitor center.
20b - Wednesday - Vogel State Park Visitor Center
 
We hiked two trails:
Bear Hair Gap Trail – highlighted in Pink
Trahlyta Lake Trail – highlighted in Orange
 
20a - Vogel State Park Trail Map
 
Click on any photo to enlarge or hover your mouse on any photo for a description
 
20c - Vogel State Park Trail Heads
 
 
Karen and Al, this is the bridge where we found the buckeyes!!!
 
The bridge is only about 1/2 mile along the trail:o))
20f - Vogel SP - Bear Hair Trail - Bridge over stream where we found the buckeyes
 
 
It is a challenging, but fun hike!!!
20g - Vogel SP - Bear Hair Trail - through the rocks     20h - Vogel SP - Bear Hair Trail - playing on the rocks
 
 
Interesting finds…..
 
Blight killed the large Chestnut Trees in this area. 
 
People have marked some stumps with stones to resemble grave markers.
20i - Vogel SP - Bear Hair Trail - large chestnut stump grave marker killed by blight
 
 
Next, an unusual fungus called Stalked Puffball-in-Aspic !?!?
 
Never saw anything like this before… sort of gross ;o((
20k - Vogel SP - Bear Hair Trail - Stalked Puffball-in-Aspic
 
 
A rather large but very pretty frog ;o))
 
OOPS…. fast forward very quickly Karen…  sorry !!!
 
20j - Vogel SP - Bear Hair Trail - frog
 
 
We finished the Bear Hair Trail just in time for lunch.
 
How’s this for a beautiful lunch spot :o))
20l - Vogel SP - Lake Trahlyta - lunch spot
 
 
After lunch,
 
we walked the one mile trail around Lake Trahlyta,
 
including the short spur trail to the falls.
20m - Vogel SP -Trahlyta Lake & Waterfall Loop hike20n - Vogel SP -Trahlyta Lake & Waterfall Loop hike - hawk20p - Vogel SP -Trahlyta Lake & Waterfall Loop hike - view from the dam20q - Vogel SP -Trahlyta Lake & Waterfall Loop hike - falls below the dam
 
 
 
Friday, August 22nd, hiking to Raven Cliff Falls.
 
Today we drove on Hwy 348, one section of the Richard B. Russell Scenic Byway.
 
Click on any photo to enlarge or hover your mouse on any photo for a description
 
22a - Richard B. Russel Scenic Byway - Hwy 348   22b - Richard B. Russel Scenic Byway - Hwy 348 - early morning mountain haze
 
 
Our destination was the Raven Cliff Falls Trailhead.22c - Raven Cliffs Falls Trailhead
 
 
The trail follows Dodd Creek all the way to Raven Cliffs Falls.
22d - Raven Cliffs Falls - bridge across Dodd Creek which we followed all the way to the falls  22e - Raven Cliffs Falls - Believe we found the Sweetheart Tree
 
 
You will pass several smaller falls along the way.
22f - Raven Cliffs Falls - List of Falls by mileage
22g - Raven Cliffs Falls - Falls at .4 miles 22h - Raven Cliffs Falls - Falls at .8 miles22i - Raven Cliffs Falls - Falls at 1.3 miles 22j - Raven Cliffs Falls - Falls at 1.6 miles
 
 
Unfortunately, Raven Cliffs Falls was but a trickle due to low water levels;o((
22k - Raven Cliffs Falls - Falls at 3.0 miles, disappointing
 
Regardless, it was a very pretty hike along a beautiful creek!!!

10 comments:

  1. What are you going to do when you've completed a hike on every trail in North America? Take Spanish lessons and head South??? :c)

    Glad you're having a ball out there in the wild!

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  2. Looks a bit like hiking in Acadia. What fun!

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  3. Nice catch up post Nancy! I hope you can get back here sometime in the fall and do some more hikes. We found out you can park at the Walasi-Yi center on a week-day, if you just ask them. We may give it a try this morning with my new hiking shoes!

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    1. Either direction from Walasi-Yi on the AT would be a fun hike!! Hope the new hiking shoes are what you need to make the toes feel better!!! Have fun and we'll look forward to your post of the experience.

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  4. Oh those veggies look scrumptious! It doesn't look like there's a lack of hiking in that area :)

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  5. Farmers Market looks awesome! Beautiful views!

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  6. After your first low water falls I thought that the Georgia mountains must be out of water but your later ones were really great. Looks like you have made the rounds there and hiked some very nice trails. Those leg muscles Bill is sporting as he walks up those steps are pretty powerful looking. The people in our area in Virginia really did grieve for the Chestnuts. They were a very important tree to all the mountain people. We have stumps on our property which keep trying to grow still and the blight lets them get about 5' tall and then kills them again. It's so sad.

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  7. Nothing says Summer like fresh tomatoes and corn! I do love me some mountain waterfalls!
    Syl

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  8. Great produce and Great hikes- looks like a winner.

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