17 December 2017
I admit to a little cabin fever after my Myakka River trip and the need to get back on the trail, especially since I feel the need to increase elevation on my hikes. I need to hike upward since my first hike on my spring cross country trip will be an attempt on Guadalupe Peak in Texas at and elevation of 8700+ feet with an elevation gain of 3000 feet.
The area around Helen, Georgia may fit the bill. I found a Groupon for the Unicoi State Park Lodge for a very good rate and I booked 4 nights at the lodge. My intent is to do some day hikes in and around the park.
As usual, the hard part is getting out of Florida. I made it to Tifton, Georgia, 242miles and 6 1/2 hours from home. I pulled into the Choice Inn and Suites around 4:30 pm and had dinner at Applebee’s across the highway.
I saw an interesting trick by the FHP on the Florida Turnpike around Jupiter. Four FHP had pulled over speeders all in a distance. Apparently what they were doing was stopping the first car and when everyone thought they had passed that FHP by and resumed speed, a second FHP pulled the next speeder over. This worked for 4 speeders and 4 FHP. Then when you’ve driven another 6 miles and think you are home free, there was another FHP with a speeder. Fortunately, I had put the jeep on 70 and kept going.
My intention is to bypass Atlanta tomorrow. I’ll head toward Athens. It’ll increase my travel time by 1 1/2 hours but at least I’ll not have to face Atlanta white knuckle traffic. It is probably an even better idea since the closing of Atlanta airport.
There are several hikes I researched in the Helen area.
1) Andrews Cove Trail, 7.2 mile round trip with 1105 foot elevation gain
It is not recommended to use the medicine viagra online no rx for more than 6 months for seeking professional help. It is quite worrisome how our lifestyle has changed the routines visit for more now cialis sale of lots of people. One of the major ingredients of buy cialis cheap this medicine. They do not consider those women cialis 5mg cheap who really want to help their partner to cope with erectile dysfunction, including diabetes and heart disease, start occurring as men get older.
2) Dukes Creek Trail, 4.6 mile round trip with 344 foot elevation gain
3) Mount Yonah Trail, 4.2 mile round trip with 1450 foot elevation gain
4) Raven Cliff Falls, 4.8 mile round trip with 567 foot elevation gain
5) Smith Creek Trail, 8.9 mile round trip with 1699 foot elevation gain
6) Anna Ruby Falls Trail, 0.8 mile round trip with 193 foot elevation gain
7) High Shoals Trail, 4.9 mile round trip with 1204 foot elevation gain.
I’ll decide what and how many to hike after talking with Park rangers and taking weather into consideration. It’s supposed to rain for the first two days in the park and temperature in the 40’s. However, even if I get wet, I’ll dry out by the fire at the lodge.
