J and I have made several weekend trips recently to North Georgia to explore places where we camped many years ago. There are many dirt and gravel roads in north Georgia, and there are several mapping apps that have outlined groups of these trails to make them easier to find, but some apps are better than others. The amount of information available per trail varies greatly between apps. Most apps only contain a few of the available dispersed campsites. I will not try to correct the deficit, but I will show a few of my favorite places to camp. Some of the favorite trails I have found is Noontootla Creek/FS58, and several trails in the surrounding area. There is a fair number of campsites on these trails, that are isolated from each other. Several of those campsites could only hold one vehicle, but there are exceptions. Some of those campsites could contain 20 vehicles. Some of these campsites I would deem unacceptable due to mud or just bad placement, but some are jewels. I have noticed that in most of these places, fire rings are situated in the best possible place to camp. Not to the side, but in the very exact place you would want to park your car or truck. Since I now carry a small solo stove, the fire rings are now a negative to me. That was never the case before, though. I personally think that a campfire is a very enjoyable part of camping. The solo stove works far better than a campfire and a conventional ring. In a solo stove, the fire is burned out the following morning, and the ashes are cool, no coals are left. This is much better than having a smoldering fire left. With a portable stove, it will be difficult to know that you had camped in a place, which is a positive thing in my mind. The next guy is going to think he was the first one to camp there, and that's awesome!
This past weekend, the colors we're beautiful. The lows were in the 40s and 50s, so the maples, scarlet oaks, sourwood trees, and a elms were very colorful and punctuated by billions of blue asters and goldenrods along the roadsides. There were many people biking as well as Jeeping. The weather was spectacular Saturday, and slightly overcast on Sunday.
One of the trails we drove was FS46 which starts near the top of Amicalola Falls. This road connects with Nimblewill gap to the north, but it's closed and posted even before it reaches Frosty Mountain. Irregardless of how I feel about that, there are three great campsites along this road, and one of them is really great. They are very isolated on a non-through road, and traffic is low even during busy times. They really have no great views except the surrounding woodlands, but you won't have neighbors. On our drive out, we saw a year old black bear standing on the edge of the road ahead of us. Before I could grab my camera, he bolted.
Other roads we drove, were Winding Stair Mountain Trail/FS77, Blue Ridge/FS42,Coopers Gap/FS80, and Nimblewill Branch 1/FS28-1. There are many dispersed campsites along these trails several being very private, but not many far off the road. I am looking forward to going back in cooler weather and enjoying the view without the leaves.
I hope this inspires you to get out, camp, enjoy the company of others. Be safe. Keep your campsite tidy to avoid wildlife surprises, and don't forget to wave!
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