Georgia on our minds

We wanted to do some hiking in the north mountains of Georgia. Mike looked on Passport America's site and found a cute campground by Lake Chatuge. It was celebrating its reopening and would have been half price ($17.00) even without PA this week. The Appalachian Trail is less than 10 miles away and other trails nearby.

I was glad that the drive was only 100 miles and Mike could handle that alone. The winding road along the Ocoee River without a shoulder would  have made us both tense. Him from worrying about my driving and me due to his worrying.

We made several stops along the river and came upon a Georgia State Butterfly (Tiger Swallowtail) hatch. There were so many flying all around us as we walked.

Ocoee River

Another beautiful stop  was at the site of the1996 Olympics whitewater kayaking park with plenty of hiking trails to keep a person busy for quite sometime.

The TVA runs the dams to provide electricity to the community. They have scheduled water releases for the kayakers and rafters. A portion of their fees are returned to the TVA for compensation of the loss of energy they would have generated.

Fire lookout

Hiawassee, GA 



Our great site on the hill.

Who knew it would be reopening weekend? Music in the barn and hot dogs, hamburgers and soda for the guests and people from town.

 To read about the interesting  history of this campground click here.

B

The Music Barn

They plan to have Saturday concerts this summer.

Reopening Ribbon Cutting

 Some Bluegrass with fun story telling

Barbershop quartet

We drove to Dick's Creek Gap for our day hike which was steep up one mile down, a half then back up and so on for 5 miles. We ran into quite a few through hikers and those out for sections. One couple, starting in North Carolina, were trying to get 17 miles in for the day to make it to Springer by the end of the week.



We were told that many people find this part of the AT pretty tough because of all of the ups and downs. One lady said her knees were giving her a hard time.  70 miles with that big pack could be wearing on knees.

In the evening back at our campground, a community campfire was lit as the sun went down. Several people staying at Mountain View Campground gathered around to visit and look at the stars. We learned about the Star Walk app that we downloaded on our smartphone from the owner of the campground Damien.  We point it at the sky and it tells us the stars, planets and constellations we are looking at

For the next day's hike, we chose High Shoals Falls. Thank goodness for smart phones. We found what we thought was the trailhead. According to the phone, there would be a green markers to show us the way to the right since there was also a trail to the left.  Shortly down the hill, there was a sign to tell us this was the right way.

The High Shoals Falls Trail travels through a lush, mossy creek valley to two beautiful waterfalls. And on the way, the hike passes some prime backpacking campsites and visits the equally beautiful (but smaller) Blue Hole Falls, a single-drop waterfall with a deep, turquoise pool below.

The hike crossed the wooden bridges and passed several trailside campsites along the creek. The trail winds through canopies of rhododendron as it descends to High Shoal Falls.

As we walked along the lush trail, there were many different very small flowers lining the path. At times, the mountain laurel had fallen on the trail making it look like a wedding had just happened.

Newt

A tiny wild iris

After our hike to High Shoals Falls, we headed over to Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia and just down the road from our hike.

Brasstown Bald, GA, rising 4,784 feet above sea level, is Georgia’s tallest mountain. Its incredible 360 degree view allows we to see Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina on a clear day.

The north Georgia Mountains turned out to be a real treasure. The people have a real sense of community. As the days came to an end, we weren't sure we were ready to pack up but were so glad that we found ourselves here.

Chattanooga Choo Choo

It had been a while since we had been on an interstate and able to drive faster than 50-55 mph. Hang on, we were headed to a city and it was raining. It was good to be back in a city for a little while. We only considered Chattanooga because it was "on the way" but turned out to be a real treat.

Our campground was on Raccoon Mountain with some nice hiking trails and a stream  on the edge of town.

Chattanooga, Tennessee

We rode the free electric shuttles around town to familiarize ourselves with the area after speaking with the Visitor's Center person. He gave us an idea on some of the must sees. The shuttle turned out to be a good choice when the rain was coming down heavily.

The Tennessee River runs through the middle of Chattanooga and has so much history related to the Civil War and Cherokee Indians. We had our raincoats on and headed to the riverfront.

The Chattanooga Choo Choo Train was Cincinnati Southern Railroad's small wood burning steam locomotive in 1880. Nearly all trains traveling to the South passed through Chattanooga.

The train station is now a beautiful hotel.

Manual railroad tracking board to keep track of where they put their trains.

The Chattanooga Choo Choo train engine now on display at Terminal Station. It was last used by the Smoky Mountain Railroad between Knoxville and the Smoky Mountains in the 1940's. 



Then we headed north.

The Walnut Street  Bridge was condemned and destined for demolition when the citizens of Chattanooga convinced the city  to commit the funds earmarked for the bridge’s demolition to its restoration.

   It serves as the pedestrian link between downtown Chattanooga and the now thriving Northshore District. It was a nice walk and plenty of things to see and do if we were there longer.



The glass bridge into the Hunter Museum and Bluff View Art District. The glass keeps needing to be replaced and will be replaced with steel soon. Sometimes Artsy doesn't work. It was pretty slick in the rain.

What a great way to see this small city. The bikeways are amazingly safe. No wonder it is rated one of the most bikable cities.

An entire lane for bikes with a curb to protect the cyclist.

Unusual benches for a rest

Alice in Wonderland showing us to the powder rooms.

We are usually early risers. I guess we got pretty tired with the new time zones and slept until 9:15 am. We looked at each other when we finally opened our eyes and decided to stay one more day in Chattanooga. After paying for another day, we decided to take a walk at Point Park to get some exercise.

Point Park



Point Park is a ten acre memorial park that overlooks the Lookout Mountain Battlefield and the city of Chattanooga. There is a paved walking path around the park that took us by several historic tablets, monuments, Confederate artillery positions, and a scenic overlook.

The Tennessee River was an important port for supplies for both sides of the war.

 Lookout Mountain has more than thirty miles worth of trails that allow hikers to explore the area. Many of these trails are old railroad beds and others built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.

The Cracker Line

The Ohio Union soldier's rations were 9 crackers (about the size of the palm of their

 hand) per day, 3 morning, noon and night. When they saw General Hooker leading the stars and stripes up the mountain they all cheered  because they knew they would get their full rations and a new pair of shoes. Both were sorely needed.

The Lookout Mountain's Incline’s trolley-style cars climb a 72.7% grade.  I believe that is almost straight up. Only one other incline in the world is steeper.. We chose to drive to the top and walk around Point Park.

Trail of Tears

We kept seeing signs with information about the Trail of Tears. as we traveled. I wanted to know more.



In the 1830s, nearly 125,000 Native Americans lived on millions of acres of land in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Florida– for generations. By the end of the decade, very few natives remained anywhere in the southeastern United States. Working on behalf of white settlers who wanted to grow cotton on the Indians’ land, the federal government forced them to leave their homelands and walk thousands of miles to a specially designated “Indian territory” across the Mississippi River. This difficult and sometimes deadly journey is known as the Trail of Tears.