Today's walk in the woods involved a drive west of Ellijay, Georgia to a remote forest service road and campground. We combined directions from Tim Homan's Hiking Trails of North Georgia with bits from geocaching.com and a bike shop map.
We met no one on the 3.3 mile loop with a 300 foot altitude gain. We crossed the creek several times. There were lovely hemlocks and rushing water sounds as the trail followed the creek. The cache was near the Gennett Poplar, said to be the second largest tree in North Georgia, over 18 feet around and 100 feet tall. Local history according to the sign says that the landholders, the Gennett brothers saved the tree from logging during the Great Depression. Phil is totally dwarfed by the tree.
When the trail turned away from the creek, it went up to an old road bed in which these blue flowers were growing in the center and on the sides of the tire tracks.
For Phil, the only bad part of the trek was the final crossing of the creek to the car -- we had to take off our shoes.
