Georgia- Tennessee mountains: Cloudland Canyon

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Mike

My last day on this trip (of shooting, hiking and camping) would be today at Cloudland Canyon State Park in the northeast Georgia mountains. Tomorrow I planned to drive to my father’s home in Gadsden, AL, the next night would be at my sister’s in Tallahassee, FL, and then home to Gainesville, FL. After about a week on the road I was tired & my feet were sore with a few blisters. In the last post I told you about the rowdy fellow camper who kept me up half the night with his loud, interminable comedy routine.

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boulder over trail

boulder over trail

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Georgia- Tennessee mountains: Back to Georgia

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Mike
guests for breakfast

guests for breakfast

Bleary eyed, but rested, I crawled out of my sleeping bag and quickly got dressed. It was a slightly nippy Tennessee morning. The daddy longlegs were still creeping around on the roof of the tent. What were they looking for? Oh well, I was getting used to them. I emerged from the tent into a clear, crisp mountain dawn, and best of all, no rain. My first thoughts were about making coffee & breakfast. As I sat down at the picnic table that was my kitchen, and began to crank up the stove, movements in the forest suddenly caught my eye. Continue reading →

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Georgia- Tennessee mountains: Hunting waterfalls in Tennessee

Posted on November 6, 2011 by Mike
campsite in TN

campsite in TN

 

daddy longlegs

daddy longlegs

My first daybreak in Tennessee arrived with a light rain. By now precipitation had become a familiar morning routine, and I quickly prepared my customary dose of caffeine as well as a hefty bowl of oatmeal. An interesting feature I had noticed about this particular campsite was an abundance of daddy longlegs. They were everywhere, and seemed particularly fond of climbing on my tent. In fact, the first thing I saw when I awoke this morning, climbing on the mosquito netting in the roof of my tent a few feet above my head was a really big one. And he wasn’t alone, there were a half a dozen more creeping around on the roof of the tent. Fortunately, I don’t suffer from arachnophobia, so I was only mildly creeped out. Continue reading →

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Georgia- Tennessee mountains: Getting to Tennessee

Posted on November 6, 2011 by Mike

This would be another travel day, destination: Fall Creek Falls State Park near Spencer, TN. The weather system that had followed me up from Florida was finally moving up the eastern seaboard. The rain had stopped and the sky was partly cloudy. Shortly after arising this morning at my Vogel SP campsite in Georgia, I actually saw sunlight for the first time in several days. All my gear was wet. Even inside the tent the only thing that wasn’t damp was the sleeping bag. I decided to delay my departure for an hour or so to let the sun dry things out a little.

wet tent

wet tent

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Georgia- Tennessee Mountains: A rainy hike in Georgia

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Mike

It had been a rainy night in Georgia. I awoke a couple of times during the night to the dual sounds of a light but persistent patter of rain from the sky & the heavier plopping of bigger drops from the trees above me. The muted morning light invaded my tent and my ears told me it was still raining, my watch said 6:30. My bladder relayed that there would need to be a trip to the bathroom soon, or maybe the nearest bush. One glance out the front door of the tent unfortunately confirmed that my ears weren’t lying. It wasn’t a Miami monsoon, but steady enough to be a nuisance. Continue reading →

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Georgia- Tennessee mountains: foraging for fall foliage (day 2)

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Mike

Here in Florida we get a little fall foliage color, especially in the north. But for a really impressive display, you have to travel further north. For me, one of the closest places to see decent fall foliage is the north Georgia mountains. This is an account of a recent trip I took mainly to shoot fall foliage, but also mountains & waterfalls. I was also able to visit my Dad & sister, & a couple of old friends I hadn’t seen in 30 or so years.

Here’s the itinerary:

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The Atlantic side

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Mike

From my home base in Gainesville (Florida, USA), I lay claim to roam, explore & generally enjoy a variety of domains within my geographical territory (here’s a map of my Atlantic domain). I’m about an hour’s drive from both the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. This post is about a trip to the Atlantic Ocean, specifically the beaches at Washington Oaks State Park & Fort Matanzas National Monument. I drove over on (August 26) the day after Hurricane Irene passed Florida on the Atlantic side. The waves are usually pretty high when a hurricane is in the area and I figured I might be able to get some impressive shots of waves crashing into the coquina rock formations at Washington Oaks. Since I was in the neighborhood, I stopped by the beach at Fort Matanzas too. Maybe there would be time to hike down to Matanzas inlet.

waves

waves

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Paddling Juniper -August 2011

Posted on August 7, 2011 by Mike

Last Thursday morning (Aug 4) I loaded my kayak on the car and headed for Juniper Springs in the Ocala National Forest (NF). This is my account of that paddling adventure. I include a few links here to sites with more detailed information, if you’d like to investigate the topic further. Continue reading →

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The Journey West: Rocky Mountain National Park, part 4- Grand Lake &The Kawuneeche Valley

Posted on July 31, 2011 by Mike

This essay describes my last day in the park. In a earlier post I told you about the unsuccessful attempt to drive through the park on Trail Ridge Road (Hwy 34) from Estes Park, CO to Grand Lake, CO. Unfortunately, it had been a late winter and the road wasn’t open yet. Snow was still being cleared from the road. The circuitous alternate route to the west side of the park was much lengthier. But, since this was the ever scenic state of Colorado, the journey itself turned out to be quite memorable. Continue reading →

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The Journey West: Rocky Mountain National Park, part 3- Endovalley & The Alluvial Fan

Posted on July 18, 2011 by Mike

This excursion took us back to the Rocky Mountain National Park, but by a slightly different route. Here’s a Google map of the places we went on that day, try the terrain or satellite view to get a better sense of the surrounding mountains. We still had to return to Estes Park from Shelley’s house in Longmont, but from there we entered the park at the Fall River entrance on SR 34. This  route follows Fall River in a westerly (upstream) direction along the Fall River Road. Continue reading →

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