06/06/00 Hiking From Walasi-Yi Center:
I've been in the middle of the Chattahoochee National Forest close the North Carolina border near Blairsville, GA for the past 2 days. I'm right in the heart of the north Georgia mountain country and the beginning of the Appalachian Mountain Range. We're at an elevation of about 2500 feet.
When I pulled in to the Nottely River Campground to register, a man with a long, white beard and wearing coveralls came out from around a wood pile and introduced himself as Jim Bob. No sh*t! Talk about stereotypes. I looked around for his brother Bubba.
Yesterday we got some much needed rain so I just scouted the area out a little. I found 2 nearby lakes that are good prospects for paddling. The mountains provide as much hiking as anyone could want. I have the locations of more than 70.
A problem I have with many of the s in this area is they start near the top of a mountain or ridge and descend from there. Then you have to climb back up. I'm perfectly willing to climb up a mountain but that has to occur at the beginning of the hike. That way if the going is too tough for me I can always turn around and go back down. I'm not going to hike down a mountain side and then try to come back up again. If I'm hurt or tired at the end of a hike I want to be heading down, not up.
A cold front has moved in with high winds. The temperature today is in the 60's with a 15-20 knot wind blowing. This morning I drove to the Walasi-Yi Center on US 129 below Blairsville. It overlooks a nice valley with views of several mountain ranges. The Appalachian passes through here.
Walking behind the center I saw a coming up from the valley floor. The same or another with white blazes led off up a slope so I followed that one. I think it was the Appalachian but am not sure. I found a sign indicating I was entering the Raven Cliffs Wilderness Area. A really strong wind made me glad I had a sweater on and I was thinking about adding a vest or windbreaker.
The meandered back and forth along switchbacks for 45 minutes or so. It was well defined but I didn't really know where it was going. The sky clouded over and a heavy mist appeared. Grasses began obscuring the somewhat and worse, soaked my boots and socks. The wind continued to blow and once the leveled off I started getting chilled.
I decided if the started going downhill at a pitch steep enough for my toes scrunch into the tips of my boots I would call it quits. Ten minutes later they began to scrunch and I turned around and called it a day.
06/07/00 Hiking Bear Hair Gap :
Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me.... 56 and still counting.
Geeze, June 7th and last night it was down in the 40's. At least the sun was shining this morning.
The plan this morning was to take the Neel's Gap to the top of Blood Mountain. I pulled into the Byron Herbert Reece parking area just about 9am. The parking lot already held 3 cars. I pulled in next to one on the far side of the lot.
Getting out of the truck I happened to glance down at the ground and saw lots of shattered car window glass. Then I glanced at the ground beside a mini-van parked a few feet away. Half a window lay there. Looking closer at the van I could see a gaping hole where a rear door window should have been. The 3rd car had a back window broken out of it. My guess was the cars had been broken into during the night and the owners of the two still in the lot were camped out somewhere nearby. The shattered glass that first attracted my attention probably belonged to someone who had broken camp and left before I got there.
I sat there for a few minutes thinking about things. While I have a lot of stuff in the truck bed, always covered, there's nothing of value in there. I usually leave the laptop in my tent. I'm getting in the habit of leaving the kayak at the campsite while I'm hiking. I take the camera and GPS with me so the only thing of value is the printer which I really don't care too much about. What I'm more concerned with is the damage I'd suffer resulting from a break in. I decided not to park there on that day and went down the road to Vogel State Park and paid my $2 parking fee. Except today is Wednesday and the parking slip says today is free. Oh well.
The head is back by cabin 5 and there are actually 3 s back there. A 1 mile nature , the 3.6 mile Bear Hair Gap , and the 12.5 mile Coosa Backcountry . The Coosa is pretty strenuous and they require a permit and recommend 2 days to complete it.
So, off I go on the orange blazed Bear Hair Gap . It and the yellow blazed Coosa go along together for a mile or two. The followed beside a small stream with lots of small, cascading waterfalls so I had the sound of water to accompany my belabored breathing as I pressed on up a steady incline.
At 45 minutes into the hike I crossed a small stream and saw a sign saying I was entering the Blood Mountain Wilderness Area of the Chattahoochee National Forest. At 1 hour a sign showed the Bear Hair Gap separating from the Coosa Backcountry at 1.6 miles.
The next 30 minutes on the Bear Hair Gap was much steeper than the first part. The burning in my hamstrings moved down to my calves as I spent more of my time climbing on my toes. The wound through many large granite(?) boulders and bluffs and eventually broke out onto a wide path that proved to be the top of the .
15 minutes later I came to a branch leading to Vogel Overlook. To this point there had been no views at all. Just nice, pretty woods, boulders and small streams. It seemed a long .2 miles to the overlook and even so I missed it on the way in. On the way out I saw a notch between the trees that is apparently the overlook.
The view was of Lake Trahlyta, way below in the park and many mountain peaks leading off into the distance. Whereas much of the Smokey and Blue Ridge Mountains are actually extended ridges, these appear to be actual mountain peaks.
I spend too much of my time daydreaming when I'm hiking. The broke out onto a road and I followed it a half a mile before realizing I hadn't seen a blaze for a while. Backtracking, I found where the orange blazes turned downhill to the right of the road. And I had forgotten to take a GPS position at the head too.
06/09/00 Hiking Blood Mountain Summit:
I drove over to Lake Winfield Scott Recreation Area to hike the Slaughter Creek this morning. I found a map and other local information a little ways up the . For a change, I took the time to make a little sketch of the and even remembered to take a position with the GPS.
After a half mile or so of following the blue blazes, Jarrard Gap branched off to the right while I stayed on the Slaughter Creek . Rhododendrons were the most common tree along the steady upward climb. They weren't blooming though. Their flowering season had just past, probably mid-May. When I got to the top I did find a few flowers here and there on the trees.
45 minutes into the hike 10 elderly women joined the Slaughter Creek from a off to the left I hadn't noticed. They chattered away and seemed to be making good progress. I waited as they all passed but then they all stopped to let me go by. Once they did that I had to pick up the pace to move on and stay ahead of them.
2.2 miles brought me to the Appalachian . I was surprised to see a sign pointing to the top of Blood Mountain. Since it was only 1.2 miles I continued upward. At the top of this 4458 foot mountain is a stone shelter for hikers overnighting on the Appalachian . A short scramble up some ledges leads to a nice view of a valley, several mountain ranges and many mountain peaks. I've seen almost no rocky mountain tops or rock walls or outcrops in this area. Almost everything seems to be covered with trees. I did see one hollow in the distance with 1-2 small farms.
After lunch I started back down and met the man who was leading the women on the . We chatted a few minutes as the women caught up. They belonged to some kind of senior leisure group sponsored by a college near Gainesville, GA and do something active every other week. The man was 76 but didn't look much more than 65. I also passed a group of about 10 youngsters on their way up.
When I got back down to the Appalachian , I decided to try to pick up the Jarrard farther down the AT, rather than go back the way I'd come. Jarrard Gap was 2.2 miles down the and the sketch I had drawn showed I'd pick up the around there somewhere. So off I went.
25 minutes down the I came across a double blue blaze indicating a head. I didn't know what to make of it because it was way too soon. I followed the blue blazes for a half a mile and dead ended at a brand new shelter. I circled the area twice and the only I found was to an outhouse. Since I was there...
After retracing my steps to the Appalachian I had to decide whether to continue on or go slogging my way back uphill the way I'd come. I decided to continue on, even though if I was wrong I'd have a couple more miles of uphill hiking ahead of me. I did have the GPS out and it seemed to agree I was still heading in a good direction. Of course it also said that when I started down that to the shelter.
I figured I had already completed half of the 2.2 miles so I'd give it another half hour on the before I'd get concerned. But a half hour passed of steadily going downhill and no intersection. I gave it another 10 minutes and was just getting ready to turn back when I saw a dirt road ahead. This turned out to be the Jarrard Gap .
I had only gone a few feet down the road when I saw a blue blaze off to my left. Oh no! Not another false . I backed up a little and saw a double blue blaze I had missed so turned down the . I got the GPS out and monitored my progress to make sure the mileage kept decreasing. It did and I didn't get lost, die of exposure or starvation or anything.
The finally broke out on an intersection with roads going off in 4 different directions. I got the GPS out a final time and it led me off in the right direction.