We decided after the adventures of the previous day that we would not hike up and down the falls but rather parked at the bottom and hiked a little way up and then came back down and drove up to the top. I found a bush with berries hanging over the top of the falls and this little guy below that was gobbling up lichen as quickly as he could munch.
Wood and I had never hiked at Vogel State Park before. It is a gorgeous place and Sue and Ron suggested we take the Bear Hair trail there, one day last week. Seemed like a great idea so we set out.
We do love the Blood Mountain area in northwest Georgia. There was some hiking, some picture taking and some...
fording of streams. Let me just say, Sue is a master stream forder. She justs zip zip zips right across the logs. Me, I hem and haw and look for a stick to help me balance going across. Needless to say, I was always the last across and it always took me some time and much chewing of the inside of my cheek.
Another of the streams to ford.
Ok and did I mention that we sort of got lost? boy was I glad Ron had his compass and we had a map - which ended up being quite well worn by the time we were done. It was supposed to be a well marked trail, but we did meet some nice guys and their dog a couple of times on the trail and they mentioned that it gets a little confusing at the end, but just stay on the trail (if you can find it) and you will get to the end eventually. We ended up back tracking a bit and then kind of sliding down a hill that looked like it had become a popular addition to the not so easy to find trail. It wasn't the trail but it got us back to the car :-)
We were rewarded for our efforts by some great views of Trahlyata Lake from the top of the trail. And I really liked this tree :-)
We had never been to this state park in the north west of Georgia. Wow what views and what a hike down into the canyon to see the water falls
Huge rocks and lots of shale all along the sides. Made me want to have armor on :-)
We huffed and we puffed but we made it down and up. Petey got to go with us for the very first time and he was great. As long as he was carried up and down the stairs. Seems as though these grate stairs were a little scary for him.
It was well worth it when we got to the first waterfall at the bottom
It really was gorgeous and quite worth it.
We took a tour of the Tullie Smith farm this time. Our docent was a great wealth of information. Made me want to listen to him all day long.
It serves as a demonstration farm today for local school groups. Don't think I had ever been this close to cotton before.
We strolled through the gardens around the Swan House, which belonged to the Inman's in the very early 1900's. I think I could live there :-) No pictures allowed inside, so you will just have to come see why I want to live there.
Sue LOVES to take pictures!
See her peeking down at Ron from the upper right?
Sue and Ron are here and we spent the first day tooling around and visited the Euharlee Covered Bridge and took a hike at Red Top. 
I didn't realize there used to be a mill at the covered bridge. 
I had my lady bug shirt on and I had a friend or two that came to say hi. Sue did a great job of capturing him hiding among his new found pals.
Well the trail that was supposedly dry on Saturday was under water in several places on Sunday after our 3 inches of rain. We decided to risk it as did a few other folks we met on the way.
We almost turned around when we first came on this spot, because it was some muddy and when you went around in the woods you kind of sunk in the mud. But we persevered (Petey is not a fan of going off the trail since many of the smaller bushes and plants are bigger than he is)
Ok you can see this time the trail is totally wiped out. See how it goes up on the other side, just behind Wood and Petey?
And you guessed it this was the worst place of all but we made it all the way around! Hurray
There were indeed lots of gorgeous views, leaves are starting to change and birds and frogs were just having a wonderful time.
We came upon what looked to me like a squirrel playground. Wouldn't it be fun to run through these little tunnels. Wood corrected me though and said those are hangers for those expert flying pilot squirrels (should have known it would either have to do with Harleys or airplanes :-))
