My daughter and I spent the last two days hiking in the North Georgia Mountains.  We had to laugh when the near 70 degree weather we had been enjoying dipped into sub freezing temperatures just in time for our departure.  Ah well, we put on our layers, loaded up Earl, and figured that the weird weather would just add to the fun!

Our first stop was a quick visit to Cane Creek Falls.  It was grey, cold and drizzly – but at least we had the place to ourselves!

Next we ventured to Dicks Creek Falls and…once again…we had the place to ourselves. Go figure! The falls were far lovelier than the photos portray; it was hard to capture their vibrancy since at this point the clouds were now dropping sleet and snow upon us.

Later in the afternoon, we meandered along one of the mountain trails.  By this time our brains were fairly frozen…here is a “selfie” (neither of us knows how to take these!) that shows us looking like a couple of crazed hikers.

On several occasions the sleet was too heavy to bring my camera.  It will come as no surprise that it was on one of those occasions that we saw at least a dozen Ruby-crowned Kinglets flitting about us, displaying their crowns as they ate berries from a tree that I didn’t recognize.  These Kinglets were triple the size of the ones in my backyard, so we labeled that path “The Trail of the Rotund Royalty.” Another time we stood mesmerized for about ten minutes  watching a stunning Pileated Woodpecker who was ferociously pecking at a dead tree. He was so close and we had such a good view of him, but alas, I have no picture proof so you will just have to take my word for it!

As we were getting ready to pitch our tent for the night (okay, as we were heading into our room at the lodge!) the view of the mountains was poetic.

And here we are one last time before we turned up the heat in our room, put on our pj’s, and read our books while watching Chopped.

Memories like these are priceless. 🙂