With all the wet , gloomy , winter weather we've had lately I was seriously jonesin' for some some sunshine . We took a gamble that the weatherman's forecast of partly cloudy could be loosely interpreted to mean partly sunny . So we headed up to the Cohutta's in the Bear Creek area .
The ford at Bear Creek Campground .
Bridge to the creekside camp sites
Further up the road is the parking area for the Bear Creek Loop . Mainly a mountain bike trail , it leads to the Gannet Poplar . We didn't make it all the way to the tree because the creek was running above the stepping stones to cross the creek ,but we made it half way there . Next time I'll bring a garbage bag for each foot instead of just one . I couldn't hop across without getting soaked . FYI , keep a garbage bag in your backpack so you can haul out the inevitable trash that other folks just can't seem to pack out .Keep two if you want portable boots . Rant over .
Still a little ice at this elevation .
Up another service road to the southern overlook . This is one of my favorite places to soak up a little sun . It's also a great place for sunsets , sunrises and moonlit nights.
Ron convinced himself that the bright light mid pic was a reflection off the windshield of a UFO that had crashed on it's way back to the walls at Fort Mountain . I think it was the summer sausage he had for lunch .
FS 68 partly runs along a ridge and the ice was still in the trees although it was dropping like snow . We were the first ones through the area an ,man oh man , was it gorgeous !
The Cherokee ball field was slicker than owl snot . Still worth a good pic though .
More ice .
The views at Lake Conasauga were unexpected and absolutely beautiful . I thought the water in the lake would have prevented the ice but evidently not .
On the north side headed to Blue Ridge .
Icicles on East Cowpen
You can bet your bottom dollar that I was a happy camper that the weatherman was half right . Now , about all that rain this week .....
