Georgia Dayhiking - Blood Mountain

My latest hiking adventure was Blood Mountain. Plenty of people have written something about this trail (this person wrote a novel or you can just read this general overview). The original goal was to hike around 8 miles the first day and then finish the downhill the next day. Unfortunately the 10% chance of rain that day turned into a 200% chance of thunderstorms. Not to mention, this trail turned out to be much more strenuous than we thought.

My husband and I have done plenty of difficult trails, but this one got the best of us. Between the elevation and the rain, we made the decision 5.5 miles in to turn back and make camp at the creek. I do not regret the choice, especially when the next round of thunder and lighting started moving in. Yet even as the skies roared, I hesitated make the decision because I would not admit defeat. What won me over was my gut.

It's been said before and I'll chime in to the chorus: the best thing you can do is follow your gut. If something does not feel right or safe, in hiking or in life in general, stop and listen to your instincts. You've gotten this far, so maybe that gut is good for more than drinking beer.

Enough talk! Onto the pictures taken before the rain, that is.

Red Top Mountain Dayhike

Another weekend, another hiking trail! This past weekend we went to Red Top Mountain. Located in Lake Allatoona, you have some pretty lakeside views throughout the hike. Like many other state parks, you have your choice of trail and length. And like us, we went with the longest one we could find which would be the Homestead Trail.

The trail length is a moderate 5.5 miles but only has a 250 ft elevation gain. However, I felt like we had a nice combination throughout the entire hiking of small, semi-steep uphills followed by downhills. It's very well marked and is packed dirt the whole trail. At the trailhead, it said was a four hour trail - we did it in 1 hour, 40 minutes.  We think the 4 hours applies more to families than a seasoned hiker.  Anyway, let's enjoy some pictures!

Hiking in the woods - beautiful and serene

A scenic outlook about 1.5 miles in

Our trail map. Pictures taken at the gray pin dots

Backpacking adventure!

This past weekend, my husband and I went on our first backpacking hike. For a trail choice, we went with Raven Cliff Falls in Helen, Georgia.

This is an easy out and back trail with a total distance of 5.5 miles. All the books say five miles, but run keeper had it being a bit longer. What I love about this trail is that you follow a creek the whole way so you have some smaller and pretty falls you can stop at along the way for lunch or a swim. The swim is key during a Georgia summer.

For camping, this trail is great for groups and all skill levels. There are spots from the parking lot to the falls so you have a lot of choice on how far in you want to be. All sites have firepits and logs already set up from previous campers. There's even a bathroom in the parking lot so if you don't go far, your could avoid going in the woods, but that is more for the wussy camper.

Anyway, below are a few pics of the adventure and of raven cliff!

Our first backpack meal!

Tent Sweet Tent

Our runkeeper map of the hike to the campground

Weekend hiking - Kennesaw Mountain

And now for the hiking side of the blog! I can't tell you how happy I am to get to write about this passion of mine. My god, why did I ever wait this long?

Anyway, last weekend I went to Kennesaw Mountain. I had only been once before the weekend prior and loved it so much I brought him back. Kennesaw Mountain offers a variety of trail lengths from one mile to a 17 mile loop. We did a six mile loop down to pigeon hill. I highly suggest this area to locals who want to just get out there. It would be a great trail to test new gear since if things go wrong you can easily get back to the starting point. Maybe i'll be back out there soon with some hiking poles...

View from Kennesaw Mountain

Top of Little Kennesaw Mountain - Love the cannons

Hiking down the trail back to the visitor center

Piegon Hill - definitely a hill, not a mountain

Bonus! We saw deer really close on our loop back!