Countdown to Christmas – Page 7

12/18/21 Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks

Posted on December 18, 2021December 18, 2021 by Neal Saye

For this blog category, “Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks,” each day between December 1 and 25, I take a pic of a state park ornament on our Travel Tree and briefly highlight that park.

At 3,640 feet above sea level on the Eastern Continental Divide, Georgia’s Appalachian Black Rock Mountain State Park near Mountain City is our state’s highest state park and “encompasses some of the most outstanding scenery in Georgia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Roadside overlooks provide spectacular 80-mile vistas, and four hiking trails lead visitors past wildflowers, streams, small waterfalls and lush forests.” (Park website)

One very neat feature of this park is that once you walk out the door of the visitors center with your trail maps (and snack and Travel Tree ornament, of course), you are right at the Black Rock Overlook.

One not-so-neat aspect is Robert backing closer and closer to the 3446 feet drop. JUST TO TAKE A SELFIE.

Somehow he cajoled and pressured me into coming down from the safe snack machine at the visitor center to take another life-risking selfie.

Glorious hiking at the Eastern Continental Divide.

And here’s Robert at pier’s end … and obviously very happy! (Robert’s happiness barometer is set fairly low.)

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12/17/21 Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks

Posted on December 17, 2021December 19, 2021 by Neal Saye

Vogel State Park in North Georgia near Blairsville, “established in 1931, is the second oldest state park in Georgia. Located at 2500 feet above sea level, Vogel sits at the base of Blood Mountain, the highest summit on the Appalachian Trail in Georgia, and is surrounded by Chattahoochee National Forest. The North Georgia Mountains around Vogel were linked to Native American people for generations before European settlement.” (Park website)

We arrived on a rainy day and mainly kept inside or on the porch of our tiny cabin situated on a bubbling creek.

Totems in the water are a good sign, right?

Yes, beautiful weather gifted us soon.

But state park hiking can wear you out! Sometimes you gotta just sit.

Here’s a one-minute “pause-in-the-hike video” (I’ll call it) I enjoyed (and filmed) on the Vogel’s Trahlyta Falls hike. Click below to see it.

I’m too tired to finish this post, so here’s Robert. He says, “Thanks for stopping by Neal’s blog. Hope things are falling your way today.”

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12/16/21 Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks

Posted on December 16, 2021December 16, 2021 by Neal Saye

Providence Canyon State Park in southwest Georgia near Lumpkon is one of our state’s most visually stunning parks. And yet it’s here because of man’s misuse of the land! Often called Georgia’s “Little Grand Canyon,” Providence Canyon “is a testament to the power of man’s influence on the land. Massive gullies as deep as 150 feet were caused simply by poor farming practices during the 1800s, yet today they make some of the prettiest photographs within the state.” (Park website). The geological formations caused by massive erosion are indeed extraordinary to behold.

Robert and I hiked the upper rim trail to start our visit.

Just crazy how close the path was to the canyon edges! I kept yelling at Robert, trying recklessly to snap the perfect photo, to “Get back! Are you crazy?!”

Down at the canyon floor, looking up, the colors were amazing, and the water table produced trickling streams we had to navigate.

For some reason (childhood issues?), Robert wanted to see how far he could back into a crevice in the canyon …

(Sometimes in a relationship, you just have to go with it.)

Man’s Botching Up.

Nature’s Boundless Beauty.

If you’re interested here’s a short article with more about Providence Canyon…

https://lakesidenews.com/2021/05/bad-farming-created-magnificent-beauty-at-providence-canyon-state-park/

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12/15/21 Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks

Posted on December 15, 2021December 15, 2021 by Neal Saye

Kolomoki Mounds State Park, near Blakey and the Chattahoochee River in southwest Georgia, “is the oldest and largest Woodland Indian site in the southeastern United States, occupied by Indians from 350 to 750 A.D. Georgia’s oldest great temple mound, standing 57-feet high, dominates two smaller burial mounds and several ceremonial mounds. The park’s museum is built around an excavated mound, providing an unusual setting for learning who these people were and how they lived.” (Park website)

Wow, look up there … Temple Mound is huge!

I somehow made it to the top.

“The Kolomoki Mounds site is one of the largest prehistoric mound complexes in Georgia. At the time of its highest development, from around A.D. 350 to 600, Kolomoki was perhaps one of the most populous settlements north of Mexico.” (New Georgia Encyclopedia)

The slowpoke came up too.

Up on top, everything changed.

For as Robert and I walked along the flattened, mesa-like summit of Kolomoki’s Temple Mound, surveying from on high the (now) protected state park land below, our demeanor shifted with the altitude.

The mound height allowed us no space for the usual lightheartedness we so enjoy on our state park travel explorations. For the stark high point somehow brought us low, increased the gravity, the sadness of the land, reminding us of our troubled yet often whitewashed history with Native Americans.

We circled the apex in silence for quite a while. Then descended with heavier steps than climbing up.

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12/13/21 Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks

Posted on December 13, 2021December 13, 2021 by Neal Saye

The Dahlonega Gold Museum is one of Georgia’s sixteen Historic Sites, all part of the Georgia State Park system.

We visited Dahlonega in July of this year and learned that “twenty years before the 1849 gold rush in California, thousands of prospectors flocked into the Cherokee Nation in north Georgia, marking the true beginning of our country’s first gold rush. Dahlonega thrived and a U.S. Branch Mint opened in 1838, coining more than $6 million in gold before closing in 1861.” (Historic site website)

My primary goal for this trip was gold, the acquisition of gold, much gold.

It didn’t happen. All we gained from our mining and panning in Dahlonega was facts. Many facts, fascinating facts.

And this “golden” bauble.

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12/12/21 Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks

Posted on December 12, 2021December 12, 2021 by Neal Saye

Panola Mountain State Park near Stockbridge in metro Atlanta is a unique park. Because of its protected status, the park is considered the crown jewel of the Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area, one of just three National Heritage Areas in the state. It’s also a National Natural Landmark.

And “Why is Panola so protected?” you’re undoubtedly asking. Oh come on, you know. Of course you do. Because there’s a MONADNOCK there! And you don’t just find a monadnock in every nook and cranny. What? You don’t know what a monadnock is? Well, my goodness, let me define it for you then. Take out a pen and a piece of paper. It’s like I’m back in the classroom teaching again. Here I go: “Monadnock, students, is an isolated hill of bedrock standing conspicuously above the general level of the surrounding area. Monadnocks are left as erosional remnants because of their more resistant rock composition; commonly they consist of quartzite or less jointed massive volcanic rocks… Do I need to repeat any of that?”

[Robert is annoyingly INSISTING that I tell you I was reading the definition—while mispronouncing many of the words—straight from Brittanica.com.]

It was wet the day we visited.

To keep one foot from getting so wet, I should have stood on one leg, like the ducks. Or as I started calling them, the monaducks.

More info: “Panola Mountain is a 100-acre granite outcrop similar to Stone Mountain, but smaller and much more pristine. Park visitors see the outcrop and its rare ecosystem just as Native Americans did centuries ago.” (Park website)

We hiked along a boardwalk perched above the granite outcroppings.

The granite looks bleak at first glance but is covered with a variety of lichen species, resurrection moss and other rare plants.

We are so lucky to have such an enchanted environment in our state.

If you are interested, here is a link to a fascinating article about the entire Arabia Mountain area:

Reclaiming Nature and a Sense of Wonder: The Story of Arabia Mountain

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12/11/21 Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks

Posted on December 11, 2021December 24, 2021 by Neal Saye

Red Top Mountain State Park is a lovely densely forested park located on 12,000 acre Lake Allatoona north of Atlanta. The name “Red Top” comes from the high iron-ore content which causes the soil to have a rich red color.

Our cabin (with me trying my very best to figure out how to open the door) followed by the cottage we rejected …

Kidding … t’s the 1869 Vaughn Log Cabin behind the park’s visitors center.

We stayed at Red Top during the height of the pandemic, so we laid low around the cabin for most of our visit. Joyful quietness.

Here I am, looking slightly crazed, but adding to the already existing totems in our cabin’s back area leading down to the lake. Sending healthy thoughts and energy to all.

May we be Happy. May we be Healthy. May we be Safe. May we be at Peace and live our lives with Ease.

And here are some beautiful images Robert captured. (I thought about claiming that I had taken them. But you know my impeccable standards with TIB—Truth in Blogging.)

A perfectly peaceable park.

See you tomorrow.

Countdown to Christmas

12/10/21 Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks

Posted on December 10, 2021December 10, 2021 by Neal Saye

Hi there.

Welcome to the 10th day of my “Countdown to Christmas” series. Today we head over to Chattahoochee Bend State Park, near Newnan, Georgia. We visited on a short day trip in early March of 2020 before Spring made much of an appearance.

Chattahoochee Bend gets its name from, well, a bend in the Chattahoochee River.

Lots of hiking on this day.

The color scheme for this post is brown. But Robert found a few bits of color …

Here’s a riveting short, narrative-driven film, entitled, “Stick Gear: Winding Down by the Bend,” written, directed and filmed by Robert John Smith Jr, choreographed by and starring Neal Saye.

Good day to you! I hope things swing your way.

P. S. Robert says “Friday Hi!”

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12/9/21 Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks

Posted on December 9, 2021December 9, 2021 by Neal Saye

Yesterday, I wrote about Fort Mountain State Park. Cloudland Canyon is just a short drive away, so we took a day trip over. This state park, just south of Chattanooga, Tennessee and on the western edge of Lookout Mountain, boasts stunning views of craggy hills and waterfalls along three beautiful trails.