Oct. 17, 2016---Brasstown Bald, Helton creek falls, lot of pretty leaves!!!

After riding up to Lookout Mountain in Tennessee yesterday, I figured it was time to take a Fall ride up into the northern mountains of Georgia!  It's always a beautiful ride, but it was even more beautiful today with all the trees changing colors.

 As many times as we've ridden up there, this was the first time I noticed this graveyard, artwork of old school busses and other vehicles. 

There was still even lots of color in the ground cover.

 As usual, we headed into Helen first.

 Stopped at Huddle House for breakfast/lunch.  It was very good and quite cheap! 

For a Monday in October, there were quite a few people wandering around Helen.

love the little windmill there.

I mentioned to Ken that I was surprised there wasn't a lot of color in the trees up there yet.  So we decided to head up to the highest point in Georgia---Brasstown Bald, and see if it's altitude caused the trees to change yet. 

 The higher we went, the more color we saw.

 It was only about a 30 - 40 minutes ride up to Brasstown Bald from Helen along the Brasstown scenic highway. 

 It was beautiful!

 Not surprisingly, there were quite a few people up at the National Park to check out the Fall colors.

 Perhaps not peak color yet, but still very pretty.

 And quite the variety of different kinds of trees and bushes.

 Even though Ken got us in free with his senior pass, we paid the $2@ extra to ride the shuttle to the top.  This is looking North/west from the overlook.

 They had 2 shuttles running today, but it still didn't seem crowded.

 This is looking South.  Last time we were here we couldn't see the lake through the clouds.

 Looking South.

 The fire tower.

 Looking West.

 Ken pointed out Goofy here.

 Lots of interesting things to look at.

 At one point, a family was talking next to us.  The lady was asking why some of the areas were dark.  To which one of them said they were different kinds of trees and another one said they were burnt.  They didn't sound like they were joking either!  I was so surprised that I just decided to shuffle on.

 The mountains to the South looked like they might be in peak color.  We hung around until the clouds moved and we could get the full effect.

 Zoomed in to 300mm. 

 Looking towards Atlanta.  They say on a clear day you can see Atlanta some 80 miles away.  But that wasn't happening this time of year. 

 The decaying vegetation in the Blue Ridge Mountains puts out Isoprene gas / chemicals that cause the blue haze.  You don't see it in the Rockies because there's not as much vegetation on them.

 another look at the lake to the South.  Even it had the blue haze over it.

 More weird plants.

 Even a flower here and there.

 Someone said these were Mountain Laurel berries.  There sure were a lot of them!

 Don't know that these are, but there were a lot of them, too.

 Another view to the North. 

 More interesting plant life.

 After spending an hour or so there, I decided to take the walking path back down.  Not a great walk if you have bad knees, so Ken took the shuttle, but it was less then a mile and very pretty.  Plus we're having an unusual hot spell so the temps up here were still very comfortable---actually quite hot while on the lookout.

 The sign about the name "Brasstown Bald".

 Looking back at the tower/museum as I was starting down the trail.

 Looking down the trail.

 There was a canopy of colorful leaves the whole way down.

 A ground cover of colorful leaves, too.

 Plus all the colorful leaves in between.

 It was a beautiful walk.

 There were even a few benches along the way.

 There were also signs along the way explaining various plants and such.

 But I was more interested in the colorful leaves.

 Such a variety.

 This sign was at the bottom of the trail near where the shuttle picks up and drops off.

 Another look back at the tower from the parking lot as we were getting ready to leave.

 On the way back to the scenic drive, Ken pulled over on a pull out so I could take some more pictures of leaves.

 Another hillside across from the pull off.

 across from the pull off.

 more of the plant life all around the pull off.

 There was even a telephone pole there with the scratch marks from a bear on it.

 Back on the road.  We continued South on the Brasstown scenic highway.  It eventually loops around and almost connects back to Helen just South of the town. 

 scenery from the road.

 more as we were riding along.

 Last time we went this way (but in reverse), we intended to stop at a waterfall along the way, but never saw the road to it.  So this time we drove around in circles a bit and over to another highway in search of the falls.  This one took us by Vogel Park.  Another beautiful park in the north Georgia mountains! 

 Looked like there were cabins to the left of this photo.  I wonder if they're rented out?

 We finally found the "highway" to Helton Creek Falls.  It was actually a dirt/gravel one lane road for a couple miles.  There was a surprising amount of traffic on it.  The dirt being stirred up made for this interesting photo op.

 The map we had mentioned this waterfall was easy access and right alongside the road.  So I was surprised when we ended up taking a hike. 

maybe a 1/4 mile or so we came to this area.

  Someone along the way told us to be sure and go to "both" falls.

 So we continued on the trail.

 Finally came to the boardwalk viewing platform I had seen in pictures. 

 Not a huge falls, but it was another beautiful little hike.  Even Ken made this one.  Not much water flow right now, but Georgia has been in a drought for quite awhile now.

 One more view of the main falls.

 Heading back down.

 And down some more.

 Helton Creek, I presume.

 more foliage.

 and back up.  Notice the blue dot in the middle of the picture.  That's Ken leaving me behind.

 I was busy taking pictures.

 Almost to the parking lot.

 Probably not a trail to take when it's wet, but it was dry today.

 Instead of going back to the Brasstown scenic byway, we went back to the highway we had just turned off of to get to Vogel Park and Helton falls and headed back that way.  This way took us by this old building.  I thought it was a hotel.  But research just now says Mountain Crossing at Walasi-Yi is a hikers store and a lookout!  Dang!  Wish I knew that before.  I would like to have checked it out.

 Perhaps it being a store explains all the hiking shoes in the trees.  It's also a spot for "thru hikers" on the Appalachian trail.  I guess it's a good place to replace your worn out hiking shoes without leaving the trail.

I do love the mountains.  Florida didn't have those!  I guess that's why I love Hawaii so much---the best of both worlds!  But for now, I'll enjoy what Georgia has to offer.