Tallulah Gorge State Park - September 28-October 5

Monday, September 28 - We got all packed up, hitched up the pop-up and headed for Highlands, NC to Van Hook Glade Campground. One problem. It was closed for renovation until next spring. We had reservations at Tallulah Gorge State Park south of Clayton, Ga, so we decided to come early and take our chances getting a spot. We had no problem, and were set up by about 2:00 PM, including lunch. We took a nice hike on the North Rim Trail and to the interpretive center to confirm our reservations for the Saturday moonlight kayaking and Sunday moonlight hike. It is very beautiful here and reminds us of Cloudland Canyon, but has better waterfalls and river views. The weather is awesome, quite windy, but nice.

Tuesday, September 29 - We slept late, then took our coffee down to the lake and enjoyed the view while sipping. John fished for a while, but there was absolutely no action. We never even saw anything. Later, we did some exploring along the river and fished there too. John managed a couple small fish, but there doesn't seem to be any trout there. It is still quite cool and windy, but at least the sun is shining. We enjoyed pork chops and veggies on the grill for supper.

Wednesday, September 30 - We took our coffee back to our spot, but it was a little cool sitting there so we decided to hike the South Rim Trail. The views were spectacular, especially this time of the morning. This is a fairly easy hike. We were reminded of Cloudland Canyon, but we agreed that this was even more impressive, because of the river in the gorge and the very large waterfalls. In the afternoon, we drove along the Tallulah River and passed by Lake Rabun, Seed Lake, and Lake Burton, over to Moccasin Creek State Park. We fished from shore there and caught several bream. We also fished the special trout stream there, but came up empty. We ran into our friends we met there last year, John and Susan and their daughter Gretchen, who just happened to be there for the day.

Thursday, October 1 - Wow, October already. We enjoyed ourselves over at Moccasin Creek yesterday, we decided to go there again today. We fished awhile around the docks and piers and caught several bream. One was quite large, that John caught on a black gnat fly. We also drove a few miles from there and checked out Wildcat Creek. We tried fishing it, but it was difficult to fly cast, and the few pools that gave us a little room did not give us any fish. We stopped on the way home for pizza and a Wal-Mart stop in Clayton. Before calling it quits for the night, we stopped at the beach/picnic area and threw in for a while. John was surprised by a nice sized pickerel. He got it to shore, but it chewed the 3X tippet while trying to lift it on the bank. This explains why there are no bream around. These guys are voracious eaters and would not give smaller fish a chance.

Friday, October 2 - After an oatmeal breakfast, we went exploring, trying to find Lake Tugalo. We ended up finding the next lake in the chain, Yonah. It was a semi-passable gravel road down to the lake, so it took a long time. The lake was quite nice, and we were the only ones on it. We put in the kayaks and each caught bream, but even though there were some great looking spots, no bass. This lake is not as clear as others we have been on.

Saturday, October 3 - We enjoyed a great night's sleep on our new 2 1/2 inch memory foam mattress topper we got at Walmart. Today was a kick back and not do too much day, due to Joan not feeling very well. John cleaned the awning, but otherwise we just visited with new friends and stayed close to camp. We did do the moonlight kayak outing with a fairly large group of folks on the Tallulah Lake. It was very nice and we enjoyed it very much. We would do it again.

View Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/TallulahGorgeStatePark#

Trackrock Campground (September 2009)

Tuesday, September 1 - Today we drove over Blood Mountain to the Chestatee Wildlife Management Area and fished near where we worked on Saturday. This is such a beautiful area with large rocks and cascading pools. John caught the only larger trout, but we both had numerous follows and misses. There are other areas here to fish, but they will have to wait for another time.

Thursday, September 3 - We put the kayaks up on the truck the night before and headed over to Clay County Park in North Carolina which is only 13.5 miles from Trackrock. We launched and fished structure around the shoreline. Joan started things off with a nice bream. The action was good with several good sized bream each to the boat and a few small bass as well. Most fish were caught on a small elk hare fly with a foam indicator on its back. John also got some nice action on a larger foam beetle.

View Pictures:http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/LakeChatuge#

Thursday, September 17 - It seems like it has been raining for weeks now. We decided to go on an explore into some outstanding areas in the Nantahala National Forest between Murphy and Franklin, North Carolina. One spot we have wanted to check out is Standing Indian Recreation Area. There is a campground there by the same name, and it has the headwaters of the Nantahala River passing through it. This river is on the Trout Unlimited top 100 rivers in the country. We talked to the couple who were hosting at the campground and running the little store there. They answered our questions about the area and easily convinced us that we need to put this on the top of our list for places to camp next year when we take out the pop-up. We checked out the river, but had gotten too hungry to take the time to fish it. Besides, we had not put our wading boots in the truck. We went on to Franklin for pizza before heading back to Trackrock.

Friday, September 25 - Our kayak outing this time was on the Lake Hiwassee in North Carolina. We put in at the boat launch and put on about six miles. This lake is the most beautiful one we have been on yet. There is virtually no development and the shoreline is mostly very rocky. We will be back soon to try fishing it. We have no pictures since John forgot the camera.

Saturday, September 26 - After breakfast in Blairsville, we drove to Blue Ridge to the Chamber of Commerce and met other members of TU Blairsville, plus TU Blue Ridge to help several scouts do the necessary activities to earn their Fly Fishing Merit Badge. John helped with fly tying and Joan helped them learn about other equipment.

View Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/40393262@N04/sets/72157622460680384/

Trackrock Campground (August 2009)

Wednesday, August 5 - We got up fairly early this morning and with kayaks on top of the truck, headed to Jackrabbit National Recreation Area about 17 miles away for some fishing from the kayaks. We put in at the boat launch there and fished all morning. We caught a few bluegill, a couple fairly nice size, but not enough for a meal. The action was quite slow, but the water was calm and the area beautiful. The photographer forgot the camera, however.

Thursday, August 6 - We drove with some friends past Vogel State Park to Desoto Falls in the Chattahoochee National Forest. There are two falls (lower and upper), so we started out hiking the 3/4 miles to the upper falls. The trail there is beautiful as was the falls. We returned, had lunch, then headed to the lower falls, which oddly was more uphill, although it was only 1/4 miles. There was not a great amount of water, but beautiful anyway. We had a great outing.

View pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/DesotoFallsAugust6#

Friday, August 7 - There is an archaeological area not far from the campground that has petroglyphs of unknown origin. We rode with our friend Ron and hiked the short distance to the site. After viewing it, we went over to the other side of the road and hiked the Arkaquah Trail that ends up at Brasstown Bald. We lasted about 15 minutes when it got too hot. We are going to do this trail from the top down. It is 5.5 miles down.

For more information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_Rock

View pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/TrackRockGapArchaeologicalAreaAugust7#

Monday, August 10 - We headed out with Fred & Judy to explore a few areas not too far from here. We turned on Mulky Gap Road towards the Cooper's Creek National Recreation Area in the Chattahoochee National Forest, and traveled mostly on gravel Forest Service fire roads that were in fairly good shape. We checked out Mulky Creek, which is too shallow to do much fishing now, and Cooper's Creek, which is much deeper. We ended up at Deep Hole Recreation Area, and stopped for a snack and we wade-fished it while Fred and Judy hiked around in the area. John caught one Rock Bass. This is a beautiful area with a nice rustic camp ground. We were going to visit the hatchery which is close by, but ran out of time. It will have to wait until next time.

View Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/CoopersCreek#

Tuesday, August 11 - Today, the group took off to Fires Creek National Recreation Area, near Hayesville, NC. There is a beautiful picnic/family area here that has areas to fish, hike, and swim/tube. It can get fairly crouded, and did while we were there, but the fish don't seem to mind the tubers or swimmers very much and Joan managed to catch five trout. One was about 9" and another 6" and the others smaller. John caught a couple of the smaller variety and lost several larger ones. We found black ant flies that John had tied worked best.

View pictures at:

Thursday, August 13 - We went into Blairsville and attended the Trout Unlimited meeting. They tied flies from 5-7 that John especially enjoyed watching and getting tips and the regular meeting followed.

Friday, August 14 - We drove about 35 miles to Horseshoe Bend County Park on the Toccoa River and wade fished. John caught two nice Rainbow Trout on a foam caddis fly. One really smacked the fly on the surface.

Saturday, August 15 - We went on an outing with 8 other members of the Trout Unlimited group to a private stretch of water on the Hiwassee River near Hayesville, NC. One of the men caught two nice size trout and two small ones. Joan and John caught the only other fish, but all (Joan's 5 and John's 2) were very small, native rainbows. This just shows that when they aren't biting, they aren't biting.

Tuesday, August 18 - We wanted to check out the dam on Lake Chatuge, so we took off after we got our haircuts and explored the northern portion of the lake. We found a couple of beautiful picnic/launching/fishing areas near the dam that are run by the TVA. We each caught some nice sized bream and enjoyed the scenery.

Thursday, August 20 - Today's outing was a trip around Notely Lake looking for places to launch the kayaks and fish. We found a few nice ones and caught some bream (mostly small ones) in the process. This is also a very beautiful lake that is not far from Trackrock.

Friday, August 21 - We kayaked with a group of nine on the Hiwassee River in North Carolina. This is a nice stretch of the river and enjoyed the company of these folks. The couple who organized this (Gene and Lynda) live in a house on the hill here at Trackrock. We plan on more outings in the future.

View Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/KayakingAugust212009#

Saturday, August 22 - Here is an article from the Trout Unlimited Forum about this activity we participated in today:

"

Hogsed

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Hogsed was a success. Our guys and gals have made all of you that couldn't make it PROUD. It was a beautiful day, a bit warm but thru it all the 1000 kids that came by and cast and watched the flytying really gave our members a work out. Marcas Tuschel and Pat Bradley carried the ball it getting this set up, doing a great job. Clay Durrett, Bill Waters, Larry Bundy, Lowell Neighbors, John and Joan Willis, Joe Duket, Frank Glowaski, Micki Wanchick, Vince Guerico, Glen Harker, Dave Hutchenson, Ed Kelly, Burle Conley,Vern Craft, Joe Bilitswich, and John Humphrey were your outstanding representatives, who made it through the hot day. We even got to eat this year. They served some wild game, which included some fresh road kill, Armadila, and Turkey buzzard. Just kidding. There were some really good frogs legs, vencion, and quail, along with the beans and slaw. I want to thank you all for your great work on this worthwhile project."

This event gives kids (about 1000) the chance to be introduced to hunting/fishing experiences for free. Many companies support this day.

View pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/HogsedEducationDay#

Wednesday, August 26 - Grocery shopping in the morning and helping our friends Fred & Judy with their 5th wheel that developed a short that fried the breakaway brake switch and locked up their wheels before they left. We drove them to the rv store to get a replacement, had lunch on the way back, and replaced the switch. After they left, we explored the Notley River not too far from here and wet-waded (just water boots and shorts with no waders) about a half mile stretch of the river. We both caught creek chubs (small) and a few bream, but no trout. The water was quite warm, which is not the best trout water. The highlight was a buck deer that crashed through some brush and ended up about 30 feet away from us. Not sure who was the most surprised to see the other. By the time John got the camera out of its case and got it ready to shoot, the deer crashed back up the bank and disappeared.

Saturday, August 29 - Today we helped with a work day on Waters Creek in the Chestatee Wildlife Management Area doing creek bank maintenance. We went with N. Georgia Trout Unlimited Blairsville 692 Chapter. The purpose is to redirect water more to the center of the stream in areas that get a lot of bank erosion. We dug trenches to put large trees diagonally in the stream and moved a lot of river stones. Thankfully, there were about 30 people there to help. We had to drive about 2 miles back to this area down a remote road. After the work was done, we had a nice hamburger/hot dog lunch.

Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/WatersCreekMaintenance#

Trackrock Campground (July 2009)

Friday, July 10 - We drove to Blue Ridge to fish the Toccoa River and started at a location we had not been before called Horseshoe Park. This turned out to be a beautiful park and will be on our list for the future, but because it is so far from the dam and has many tributaries entering into the river before it gets here, the recent rain has made it very muddy and essentially unfishable. We checked out another park in McCaysville for future use, because it is near to this one, and expectedly was also muddy. We decided to go to an area that is about 1/2 mile down from the dam, called Tammon Park. We had fished here before without any luck. We started with John using a white wooly bugger and Joan using a red/green version of the same. John got a fish on quickly, but lost it. We each lost other fish, but John managed to land a nice rainbow, which was caught on a Parachute Adams fly. This area is heavily fished, but folks were quite good at staying out of each other's way and allowing room to fish. Most fishermen were also releasing their catches. One change that we made that seemed to have a difference was changing from a 3x to a 5x tippet, which is much thinner. These are heavily pressured fish and the water is extremely clear.

Sunday, July 12 - The service at Trackrock Campground Chapel drew 60 people this morning. John was asked to lead the singing. The service was very nice and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We then went to Hiawassee to attend the service there. The music was great as was the message from Pastor Jim. We stopped at Young Harris College for their lunch buffet on the way back to camp and enjoyed a great meal.

Friday, July 17 - We drove to Dockery Lake south of Suches, about 20 miles from here and fished at a few spots around the lake. Joan missed a trout and John caught a nice one on a fly he made from a black rubber band. We then went to Dahlonega and had Chinese buffet for lunch. On the way back, we stopped at Vogel State Park and fished again. Joan caught a nice bass and a couple of bream. John was skunked.

Sunday, July 19 - We attended a dedication service for the chapel here at Trackrock and helped set up. John led the singing. There were about 90 people in attendance.

Tuesday, July 20 - We drove over to Vogel State Park in the evening to fish. We both got skunked.

Wednesday, July 21 - Today was haircut day, so we drove into Hiawassee. Afterwards, we drove up to Jackrabbit National Recreation Area on Lake Chatuge and fished. We each caught several bream. Some were quite large and most were very colorful. We then got groceries, then returned to Trackrock.

Friday, July 23 - We drove to Sandy Bottom Canoe Access Area, which is on the headwaters of the Toccoa River south of Blue Ridge. This area is used a lot by tubers going down the river, but we fished anyway. John had tried five different flies before findin one that worked. He ended up catching two. They were near shore in the shaddows and near cover. Don't blame them considering how much activity was on the river. We will try this area again, but probably after school starts. It was a beautiful day on the water anyway and this area is in the Chattahoochee NF, so even the drive there was wonderful.

Saturday, July 24 - We had dinner with friends here. Ron and Debbie brought venison and Jan and John (mostly Jan) made stroganoff out of it. We brought Charlie Bread and made Blackberry Crisp on our cast iron Dutch Oven while we were there. Debbie (Trackrock owner) and Kaylee (a young friend who is staying with them) also joined us. It was a great dinner as well as fellowship.

Monday, July 26 - We joined several friends here at Trackrock and hiked the six mile Wagon Train Trail from the top of Brasstown Bald mountain to Young Harris College. The decent is about 3,000 feet. This is a wonderful hike, which our host here at Trackrock, who is a certified naturalist led for us. He pointed out interesting facts about the flaura and fauna on the way down. We will certainly do this again.

View pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/BrasstownBaldWagonTrainTrailJuly2009#

Thursday, July 30 - Despite intermittant rain, we took our friends from Florida, Fred and Judy, to Helen, Unicoi State Park, Anna Ruby Falls, and to the top of Brasstown Bald today. We let them visit the shops in Helen and we fished the Chattahoochee that runs through town. We battled the mass of tubers who were floating down the river, but were unable to catch any trout. It was fun watching the families enjoying their floating, though. We then went to Unicoi and had lunch at a picnic area, then went to the camp store. The hike to Anna Ruby Falls was spectacular. The falls are breathtaking. Next we enjoyed a buffet dinner at the Lodge at Unicoi, which was excellent. On the way home, we drove to the top of Brasstown Bald and enjoyed the view, although pretty hazy.

View pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/HelenUnicoiAnnaRubyFalls#

Friday, July 31 - It has been rainy all day, so we are enjoying a down day, watching videos and reading.

Cloudland Canyon State Park - Lookout Mt. Ga. (June 29 - July 6)

Monday, June 29 - We are on another getaway with our pop-up about 140 miles northwest of Trackrock. We are in the corner of Georgia in a very unique area, with deep canyons and very scenic views. We camped here last year and made friends with the hosts here, Jean and Gary. They also hosted at Hillsboro S.P. near our house in Zephyrhills. We had a nice ride over and got here about 12:30. It is cooler than it has been for the last couple of weeks. We are going to do some hiking and go into Chattanooga during the day to take in some of the local activities.

Tuesday, June 30 - Happy Birthday John. We celebrated by hiking the West Rim Trail and enjoying God's wonderful creation of vast canyons and breathtaking overlooks. A bald eagle honored John with an impressive fly-by. A black vulture also flew over, but the effect was not nearly the same. We met a man on the trail who was walking a beautiful collie and talked to him for some time. He came by our campsite to check out our set up and make notes for his future travels. Our hosts also stopped by with a much appreciated card and half a watermellon. That will taste real good on a hot afternoon. We were sitting with them in our campsite when not 50 feet away, we saw a doe who was grazing and not paying much attention to us. We really enjoyed watching her for several minutes. It was warm today, but a breeze made it quite pleasant.

Wednesday, July 1 - We got an early start and drove down off the mountain into Chattanooga. First on our agenda was to get blood tests out of the way at Labcorps. We then walked around a bit and checked the times for the I-Max shows, then sat in the shade and watched people for awhile. We walked down to the river and took the lunch cruise on the Southern Belle Riverboat. It was very nice and we enjoyed the view up and down the river. Next, we really enjoyed the I-Max theater showing of "Under the Sea." It really gives the feeling of being there. John got to return to the Barrier Reef in Australia that he got to visit a few years ago. At dinner time, we went to the Big River Restaurant and expected to be able to enjoy their prime burger like we did last year, but they had discontinued it. Very Disappointing!!! Joan had a regular hamburger that did not match up and John had cajun shrimp tacos that were outstanding. We returned to camp after picking up a few things at the grocery store including Moose Tracks ice cream. We invited our friends Don (who we met on this trip), Jean, & Gary over to share with us.

Thursday, July 2 - After talking to our friend Don for awhile, we hiked the trail from the west rim to the east rim and down to the waterfalls. We met Doug and Debbie, friends who we met here last year on the trail. They had done the long loop that joins the trail that we did. We enjoyed our hike and felt nicely tired when we finished.

Saturday, July 4 - The park here had a catfish rodeo for families. We decided to try to catch them on a fly. It took some experimenting before finding the right combination of a wooley bugger tipped with a piece of Gulp strip. The kids there and we had an absolute blast. Others were throwing their catches in our cooler, so we ended up having to fillet 19 of them for tomorrow's fish fry at our hosts Jean and Gary's. For lunch, we went down to New Salem for their annual BBQ lunch. For $6 you can get a plate of pulled pork, beef, or chicken with two sides and a drink. John got the pulled pork and Joan got the chicken, which was a half-chicken. We were so stuffed, we didn't need to eat supper. It is supposed to storm in the night and tomorrow, so many of the folks here left, including our friends Doug and Debbie. We are headed up to the tennis courts to watch fireworks this evening. We have met some really neat families here this weekend and are enjoying them.

Sunday, July 5 - We had some storms in the night, but no damage and we stayed dry. We stayed close to the camper during the day and had catfish dinner at our host's place (Jean & Gary) with Dick & Pat and Ronnie & Gail. We met Ronnie & Gail at the fishing rodeo and they provided many of the fish. The food was great and the fellowship even better. It looks like more rain coming in the night, so we have decided to stay another day so we can put away dry.

Check out pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/CloudlandCanyonSP#

Check out last years pictures here at: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/CloudlandCanyonStateParkLookoutMtGaJune24July08#

Trackrock Campground (June 2009)

Monday, June 15 - On our way back to Trackrock from our trip to Chicago, we explored Lake Santeetla in North Carolina in the Nantahala National Forest. It is a wonderful area and right in our back yard in northern Georgia. We plan on returning soon and often.

Tuesday - Thursday, June 16-18 - It has become summer here. We had a doozy of a storm Tuesday night and hot and humid days. It is cooler here in the elevation, but still quite toasty.

Friday, June 19 - We drove over to Vogel State Park about 8 miles from Trackrock and fishing most of the afternoon. There was a nice breeze and we were able to stay in the shade most of the time. We caught several bream even though most people fishing were catching nothing. Fly fishing is often a real advantage.

Sunday, June 21 - We helped set up and take down at Trackrock Chapel here at the campground, then went to the service at Hiawassee UMC. Afterwards, we enjoyed a pot-luck lunch there. In the evening, we took our flyrods tied with larger hoppers that John tied, down to our lake. Joan started things off with a nice bream, then hooked into a very nice largemouth bass that she landed. Soon, she hooked another large bass, but didn't get a good hookset, so it got off.

Monday, June 22 - We drove over to Blue Ridge, which is about 20 miles from here to check out a couple of areas to fish the Toccoa River. We started at Tammon Park which is run by the county. We forgot our hiking poles which help us wade on the slippery rocks, so we stuck close to the areas around the parking lots. We saw fish caught about 50-100 yards upstream here and also at the next area farther downstream, so our strategy will change next time to get away from the heavily fished areas by the parking lots and venture farther up or downstream. This is a beautiful river that we hope to fish often in the future.

Tuesday, June 23 - We picked up Irene and Bob, our friends from Hiawassee, and headed to the fairgrounds there for a benifit food tasting called "A Taste of the Southern Highlands." Several local restaurants provided samples of their offerings for participants to sample. This was so much fun which gave us ideas for places to eat in the future. The proceeds went to help Towns County Family Connections.

View pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/TrackrockJune2009#

Chicago Trip - (June 7 - 15)

Sunday, June 7 - We left Trackrock Sunday morning after attending worship at the campground chapel. We stopped at Barkley Lake State Resort Park in Kentucky for the night. We took a nice hike on a trail through the woods near the water, and had a nice dinner at the park lodge. We stayed in the lodge overnight. It was quite nice. We each found a tick on us, but were fairly sure we picked them up in the woods.

Monday, June 8 - We left Barkley about 7 AM and arrived at the kids about 3:30 in the afternoon. It was a nice drive with some rain on the way. The roads on I-57 in Illinois need some work. It was great to see Margaret, Jeff, Jacob, Joshua, and Rosie. We all faded about 10 PM and hit the sack.

Tuesday, June 9 - We did some errands this afternoon while Jake and Josh were in their last full session of school. We enjoyed Gyros for lunch, had Margaret's van washed, then picked up the kids. Jake had a baseball practice, which we enjoyed. It cooled off quite a lot, so sweatshirts were helpful. Jake is doing well playing and enjoys it. One of the boys had to leave, so Josh even had a chance to cover 3rd base. We can almost see Rosie grow. She is still all puppy, but is learning how to behave. Her very sharp puppy teeth continue to be a problem.

Wednesday, June 10 - Josh had his game this evening which we enjoyed a lot. Watching 5 y/o kids throw & catch is quite entertaining. Josh did a great job fielding and got 3 hits.

Thursday, June 11 - We decided we need to have birthdays early, since we will not be able to be around when they actually turn 6 & 9. We got the boys Rocket Fishing Rods that they have been wanting. We took them over to local ponds, but need to make some modifications to enable some actual catching. They have mastered the workings of the rods, however, and enjoyed them.

Friday, June 12 - We went to the Morton Arboretum today. They have added a lot of things to keep kids occupied with hands on activities. It was a great outing. Josh had a game this evening and the weather was perfect. He did a great job again.

Saturday, June 13 - Rain, rain, go away. Jakes game was rained out this morning, so we have not been able to see him play, only practice. We may stay another day so we can see a game.

View Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/ChicagoTrip#