Posted on September 14th, 2008 by Dennis
So we’ve decided to start hiking the AT. The AT runs about 75 miles in Georgia - from Springer Mountain (The southern end of the trail) to Bly Gap. Fortunately we don’t have to plan a 75-mile hike to cover the trail here in Georgia. The trail can be hiked in sections at our leisure.
Saturday September 6 we hiked a 3.5 mile section from Gooch Gap to Woody Gap up in the Suches area. BEAUTIFUL and SPECTACULAR views along the way. The terrain was a bit steep at times but nothing a novice hiker couldn’t handle.
Saturday September 13 we hiked a 3.8 mile section from Hightower Gap to Cooper Gap. Again - fabulous views and steep terrain. You have to navigate over Sassafrass Mountain on this hike!
This seems to be a great little hobby we’ve found - good for the health - good for the mind - inexpensive. We’re lucky to be able to drive an hour or so and jump on the trail - not many people across the country can do that!
We’ll keep you posted on our efforts…
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Filed under: RoadTrips, Sports - Recreation
Posted on September 2nd, 2008 by Dennis
My wife and I live very close to the Elachee Nature Center. We try to stay in decent shape and one way we do that is to hit the trails over at the nature center at least 4-5 times each week. Most of the time we’re pressed for time so all we have time for is a short 1-2 mile hike. We’re slow, and some of the terrain is steep, so we can do about 2 miles per hour comfortably. Your mileage may vary.
Yesterday we hiked from the Nature Center side. We started at the end of the bus parking lot and hiked down the Westlake trail to the point where it combines with the Dunlap trail. This is a very, very easy piece of real estate to traverse - she’s all downhill and the scenery is really nice. Once at the bottom - the intersection with Dunlap - you can see Vulture Rock Creek. Incidentally, it isn’t very far to travel on down Westlake / Dunlap to the suspension bridge - a fabulous site.
Anyway - we headed back up the Dunlap Trail rather than continue on to the bridge. This can get a little steep and we were pretty happy to be carrying some Gatorade with us - it was really humid. We’ve seen several harmless black snakes on this stretch of trail but didn’t see anything this time around.
I think the Elachee Nature Center is one of the most under-rated and overlooked areas in all of northeast Georgia. I’ll be posting more information as we continue to hike the area during the fall.
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Filed under: Sports - Recreation