by Judy Handley | Jun 1, 2011 | Sailing Logs Year 6, The Carolinas, USA |
Day 220, Year 6 Day of Work
Date: Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Weather: Sunny and Hot
Location: Lightkeepers Marina, Little River, South Carolina
This was definitely a day of work. I mostly sat at the computer choosing photos for our “Around the World” presentation, but I took a few breaks to help my brother-in-law get his new tumbling compost bin started. And all of that was after a 6 am three-mile walk with my niece Jennifer. Mark went to the boat early and worked with a refrigeration specialist to get our reverse-cycle air conditioner/heater up and running again. It just needed a little Freon and is now working fine. We will move onto the boat the week my family is here and with the high temps and NO breeze, we thought we might need a little AC to get through the week. While he was there he prepared to replace the faulty furl pump on the engine. In the process he found that it was not broken – simply stuck. He freed it and it seems to be working fine now.
My brother-in-law and I took time to write up a tentative “schedule” and menu for our family get-together week and he sent out an email to all. That just about covers the activities for today. Tomorrow will be much of the same with an added shopping trip to start buying some of the food we will need for the 30+ family members who will arrive here in a week and a half. We’ll also be buying food for our next and final leg of the Voyage of Windbird from here to Cape Cod. As I am going back through the photographs to pick out the best of the best, I have been overwhelmed with the beauty of the places we have visited over the past five and a half years. Once I get the best photos of each year chosen, I’ll write a summary of our thoughts and include those summaries in these nightly logs and post the photos for all to see. It has been such an incredible adventure!
by Judy Handley | May 31, 2011 | Sailing Logs Year 6, The Carolinas, USA |
Day 219, Year 6 Back in North Carolina
Date: Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Warm (92 degrees F in NC)
Location: Lightkeepers Marina, Little River, South Carolina
It was a 9 to 5 day. We left the cabin before 9 am and were back here at my sister’s house in Calabash, North Carolina by 5 pm. It was another uneventful “passage” for which we give thanks. There was very little traffic and we made good time once we got out of the mountains. We made one stop in the town of Toccoa close to the South Carolina border to see Toccoa Falls. We learned here that “Toccoah” is the Cheyanne word for “beautiful” and the 186-foot falls were just that.
We have had a nice visit with my sister’s daughter, Jennifer, this evening. She will be heading back to her home near Charlotte tomorrow morning but we were glad she stayed long enough to visit with us. Most of my nieces and nephews and their families will be coming here for a week long family vacation the week just before we leave, so we will get to see Jennifer again then.
When we got home this afternoon, I was shocked to see that the beans and kale that I planted the evening before we left are up and growing like weeds. I think I wrote that my sister insisted that we should plant them on the 24th because the Farmer’s Almanac said it was either then or the middle of June. Well, the almanac must have been right. I’ve never seen seeds sprout and grow so fast. Tomorrow we will help my brother-in-law get his new compost bin set up and then I have to get back to work on a photo presentation outlining the five and half years of our circumnavigation. I’ve been working on it in short stints, but it is now time to get it done.
by Judy Handley | May 30, 2011 | Sailing Logs Year 6, The Carolinas, USA |
Day 218, Year 6 Another Waterfall and a Suspension Bridge
Date: Monday, May 30, 2011
Weather: Yet Another Beautiful, Sunny Day
Location: “Down the Road” Cabin near Blue Ridge, Georgia
Our last day here was spent making sure we have seen all of the local sights. We started with an early morning walk up to Long Creek Falls. The walk was on a trail where the Appalachian Trail and the Benton MacKaye Trail met. It was supposed to be 0.9 miles to the falls, but we managed to stretch that a bit. We saw some rushing water to our left, so we walked down the hill thinking that might be the falls. It was a small falls, but not the 25-foot drop we were looking for. So we hiked back up to the trail and kept climbing until we could see falls to our left once again. But we saw no way to get there, so we backtracked, took a side trail, and ended up at another small falls-still not the right one. We then continued our climb and finally did come to an official sign that said “Long Creek Falls.” We met some hikers and some other tourists at the falls. By the time we got back to the van it was noon. Time flies when you’re enjoying beautiful walks in the mountains. Our next stop was again on the Benton MacKaye Trail where we only had to walk 0.5 miles to a 265-foot suspension bridge over the Toccoa River. People were enjoying their Memorial Day on the river kayaking, tubing, and fishing.
We enjoyed our walk across the bridge and then headed back to the “Down the Road” cabin. Lee and Mary Ellen own the cabin jointly with their daughter Michelle and her husband Jim. When they bought the cabin, it was fully furnished and ready to move into, but they dreamed about future improvements “down the road”-thus, the name. Lee and Mark worked together to clean out the rain gutters, I did a laundry, and all of us prepared for our trips home tomorrow. Late in the afternoon our daughter Heather called and we had a Skype call where Sam and Jonah met Uncle Lee and Aunt Mary Ellen.
We have had a fabulous few days here in the mountains of northern Georgia. Lee and Mary Ellen have been wonderful hosts and have made sure that we have seen everything of interest in the area. If we had more time, we would love to do longer hikes, but the hikes we did take were perfect for the time here. I have enjoyed getting reacquainted with the plants and trees of the Appalachian Mountains. We were so very lucky to arrive here with the Mountain Laurel in full bloom-so beautiful. And the rhododendron on Brasstown Bald was spectacular. So thank you, Mary Ellen and Lee, for a wonderful welcome home.
by Judy Handley | May 29, 2011 | Sailing Logs Year 6, The Carolinas, USA |
Day 217, Year 6 Island in the Clouds
Date: Sunday, May 29, 2011
Weather: Another Beautiful, Sunny Day
Location: “Down the Road” Cabin near Blue Ridge, Georgia
Today we walked the 0.5 mile Summit Trail to the tippy top of Brasstown Bald. We climbed the last 500 feet of the 4, 784 foot mountain in that half-mile and emerged at the Visitor Center at the top. The name Brasstown Bald comes from a bit of language confusion. It originated from the Cherokee word ‘itse-ye’ meaning ‘new green place.’ But this got confused in the translations with the Cherokee word ‘untsaiyi’ which means ‘brass.’ The mountain is also a ‘bald’, made that way through logging and being used as pasture land, thus the term Brasstown Bald. The paved trail to the top wound through thickets of a kind of rhododendron locally called Catawba Rosebay (Rhododendron catawbiense) and Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia)-both in full bloom. Catawba Rosebay flowers from May to June, and the rose, lilac-purple, and pink flowers were hanging in clusters of up to 20 individual flowers. The blooms of the Mountain Laurel are cup-shaped and are a delicate white with purple markings on the inside of the cup. It was a beautiful hike up the mountain and the 360-degree view was fabulous. We watched a video that called the Bald an ‘island in the clouds’ and it does sit right up. They say you can see the city of Atlanta on a clear day (100 miles to the south), but today was a little hazy, probably the more normal condition for this time of year.
Before our drive to Brasstown Bald, we went to the arts and crafts fair in Blue Ridge. We had great fun walking around looking at all the goodies. I was especially impressed with one nature photographer and admired the results of the potters and woodworkers. Lee and Mary Ellen found a great detailed map of the area, so it was a successful stop.
This evening we all played pool again. Last evening the women beat the men – twice! They dunked the 8 ball both times. Tonight we switched teams around so everyone had a chance to win (even the guys)?
Tomorrow’s adventures include a walk across a swinging bridge and another waterfall. Then on Tuesday morning, we head back to the Carolinas with wonderful memories of our North Georgia mountain excursion.
by Judy Handley | May 28, 2011 | Sailing Logs Year 6, The Carolinas, USA |
Day 216, Year 6 Amicalola Falls
Date: Saturday, May 28, 2011
Weather: Beautiful, Sunny Day
Location: “Down the Road” Cabin near Blue Ridge, Georgia
Amicalola Falls State Park is about a 45 minute drive from the “Down the Road” cabin and it is one of the most popular state parks because of the spectacular falls. Some say it is it highest waterfall east of the Mississippi, but other sources say that at 728 feet, it is the tallest in the Southeast. Whichever, it is a beautiful water fall. And access has been made really easy. You can take a staircase down for 175 steps to look back up at the cascading falls, or you can walk up 425 steps and see the falls from the top. We chose to walk down 175 steps and then back up and enjoyed the views at every level, then Mark walked up the 425 steps where Mary Ellen, Lee, and I met him with the car. He had to agree that the best views were definitely from the steps down. After the falls, we visited the Visitor Center. This park is a jumping off point for the Appalachian Trail and Teresa, Lee and Mary Ellen’s daughter who walked the trail from Georgia to Maine, says the first 8.5 miles of the trail from Amicalola Falls to Springer Mountain is definitely one of the most challenging parts of the Appalachian Trail. Springer Mountain is the southern end of the 2,175 mile Appalachian Trail, but we were satisfied with our 350 steps, and in Mark’s case 745 steps.
I spent my afternoon working on a presentation of our five and half years of sailing around the world while Lee and Mary Ellen went to a 4 pm mass and Mark used the weed eater to cut the grass around the cabin. Tonight we will play another couple of rounds of pool, but we will probably all turn in early. These hikes are getting to us! Last night Mary Ellen lost one pool round for her and Lee by sinking the 8 ball and I lost one for Mark and me by doing the same. Maybe we’ll have better luck tonight.
Tomorrow we will start our day in Blue Ridge and will go to the craft’s fair for an hour or so. Lee and Mark aren’t so hot on the idea, but ME and I would just like to check things out. Then we will drive to the highest point in Georgia, Brasstown Bald at 5,784 feet. I think we have to hike to the top, so that will be tomorrow’s adventure.
by Judy Handley | May 27, 2011 | Sailing Logs Year 6, The Carolinas, USA |
Day 215, Year 6 Forest Walks
Date: Friday, May 27, 2011
Weather: Heavy Rain Overnight, Clearing During the Day
Location: “Down the Road” Cabin near Blue Ridge, Georgia
During the night we got another heavy down pour, but by morning the rain had ended. We spent a laid-back morning watching the hummingbirds land on the feeders hanging on the deck. The feeders were there when we arrived, but we didn’t add the food until after our trip to town yesterday. Now the hummingbirds are loving it! Mark, Lee, and Mary Ellen drove to the closest little country store to get some milk and salt that we forgot to buy on our town trip yesterday and I stayed home working on photos. When they returned, we had lunch and then headed out for an afternoon of hiking. We drove to Lake Blue Ridge. This is a very large lake formed by a dam and there are upscale homes surrounding it in a development called Necowa Cove. The lake had to be drained last year so the TWA could do work on the dam and it is only partially filled at this time. I’m sure the homeowners were not happy about that, but it is now on its way back to normal. We then walked took a trail for two miles on what is called the Long Branch Loop Trail. It is an old logging road and was an easy, but beautiful hike through the woods. We enjoyed trying to identify the different kinds of trees-poplar, oak, maple, elm, ash, pine, fir-and much more. The poplar has a really beautiful blossom which has almost run its course, but I found one on the ground to admire. Then we drove to another location where we walked to the Fall Branch Falls. The falls cascaded down one rock outcrop and then down to a second one where the water plunged about 30 feet into a pool. And when we got back to the parking area we saw the most interesting sight. There was a very large tiger swallowtail butterfly just sitting in the dirt with her wings spread out and surrounding her were many tiny blue butterflies with the wings in the upright position. At first I thought they were pointy stones, but then one flew away. So I think you can tell that we are really enjoying getting reacquainted with nature in the mountains. Years ago we lived in southern West Virginia and the trees and plants here are very similar. After admiring the flora and fauna from around the world it is really exciting to now try and do the same here at home.
All of our walks are in the Chattahoochee National Forest. Tomorrow we were going to the big craft fair in Blue Ridge, but we have changed out minds and are going to drive a little south to see the highest waterfall east of the Mississippi. On Sunday morning, we’ll head into Blue Ridge so Lee and Mary Ellen and can go to church. While they do that, Mark and I might check out the craft fair and then we might drive a bit to the east to Brasstown Bald to the highest spot in Georgia. But I know that whatever we do, we’ll enjoy it.
