11-3-17 Helen to Brasstown Bald:

From Helen we took the scenic byway up to Brasstown Bald.  It is definitely a scenic byway! 

 the trees here looked like they still had a lot of leaves

 lots of color, too.  The newsman had even said it was peak weekend for leaves changing colors.

 I was a little disappointed when we got to Brasstown Bald and found it totally clouded over.  The ranger there said it was like that all day.

 Then, the clouds started to break up a bit.

 Still too cloudy to see the colors really well, but it was rather mystical.

 As the clouds lifted more and more, more and more color appeared.

 looking towards the East and the shuttle bus that brings people to the top of the mountain for $2@.

looking north.

 south

 south

 they say on a really clear day you can see 80 miles to the city of Atlanta.  We've been up here 3 or 4 times and never had it that clear.

 The warmest temperatures here are in the mid 80's, the coldest was -26 degrees.  Today was a really pleasant 65ish.

 It even rained for a bit while we were up there.  So we watched the short film during that time.

 it actually lightened up pretty nicely after the rain.

   looking north towards a nearby town

 a glimpse of the road up to Brasstown Bald.

 even with there being a lot of bare trees, it was still pretty colorful

 We even checked out the little museum.  Ken made a buddy.

 as a quilter, I enjoyed seeing the quilts that were hanging in one of the rooms.

 Then I walked back down the path while Ken rode the shuttle back down.

 It's a fairly steep grade with a decline of about 450' in about 3/4 mile.  Not real great on old knees, but still worth it.

 There are even placards along the way

 Did pass a few people coming up, but not many.

 up close with the colorful leaves.

 I bet this is a really pretty walk when all these rhodies are blooming.  There are a lot of them along the trail!

 some weird wild flower/weed.

 They even have some benches along the way.

 more color

 look at all those rhodies!

 almost back to the parking lot.

 yep, I was passed.

 Guess most people don't stop to take pictures of weeds!

 at the bottom of the path---by the gift shop.

 looking back up to the lookout from the parking lot.  It was still a bit foggy.

Turned out to be a pretty nice day to be up there.  Not quite as pretty as last Fall when we were there, but nice to see it in a different way.