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Clayton, Georgia (and, of course, Lake Burton) gets another boost from North Georgia in this recent article on

8 North Georgia Towns You Need to Visit.

It’s fall in North Georgia, and that means that it’s apple picking time!

Here’s a great article on places to go and see from Explore Georgia.

This recent letter provided to the Lake Burton Civic Association from Georgia Power, who manages the Lake, addresses potential fears regarding algae in the Lake.

It is not a problem.

Here is a great overview of trip through North Georgia to see out abundant and beautiful waterfalls!

Waterfall Road Trip

This article addresses the issue of Bears and Copperheads – common concerns in the North Georgia Mountains.

Worth the read. Many thanks to the Lake Burton Homeowners Association and Bill Russell, the author of the article!

The bottomline is that they live in the mountains. That’s their home. If you leave food out (garbage), they will come. If you mess around under bushes or in English Ivy, without looking at what you are doing, you are asking for trouble.

Big takeaway is that the non-poisonous snakes eat the poisonous ones, and it is actually against the law the kill the good guys, so please leave them alone.

Don’t worry. They don’t like you any more than you do them. Leave them alone, and they will most probably leave.

Finally, don’t mess with the bears!

We have been up at the Lake for over 30 years and have only seen one.

Again, take your garbage to the dump, and they will have no reason to visit you during your stay.

Trillium grows wild in the forests of North Georgia

The details of the beauty of God’s creation are often overlooked in the deluge of media that seeks to stimulate our senses in our daily lives.

A walk through the forest in early spring helps to remind us that God is into the details and that these are too numerous and intricate to have simply evolved by chance.

Get away from it all. Allow all of your senses to bask in the beauty of God’s creation!

Praise God for creating such a beautiful world.

In northern Georgia, fall colors are expected to peak around the week of Nov. 5, 2019.

Here’s a good article on the subject and place to visit while in the North Georgia Mountains!

On our recent trip to the Retreat at Lake Burton, two of us chose to take in a couple of hikes recommended on the Hiking page of its website.

It has been years since we have visited some of these, so going back was like getting reacquainted with old friends.

The two hikes that we took were the Coleman River Scenic Trail and the Tennessee Rock Trail at Black Rock Mountain State Park. Both of these come highly recommended, but make sure that you have good footwear and a hiking pole will come in handy (several are at the House for your convenience).

The Coleman River Scenic Trail is located north of the Lake in the Chattahoochee National Forest which borders the beautiful Persimmon Valley. This area was ravaged in late 2016 by fire. Reading about the fire, we had no way of knowing what areas of North Georgia were affected, but it was clear from the  number of charred and downed trees that the Coleman River area had been in the midst of this.

This trail parallels a lovely series of cascading streams and waterfalls – well worth the visit regardless of conditions, and nature has an amazing way of restoring itself quickly after natural disasters like fires and tornadoes, both of which have struck this area in recent years. However, the Forest Service is not quite so resourceful, so many of the bridges that cross streams entering the main river are washed out, requiring you to scale these streams, very carefully, on the rocks conveniently available for this passage. This is where the hiking poles come in handy. However, this is not easy, and there are trees that have fallen on the trail at points that also must be negotiated.

We made it to the end of the trail and, on our return trip, encountered a couple with their two young daughters – probably 8 to 10 years old – making their way through the very obstacles that we had found so challenging. This offered a much needed perspective. It served to remind us of how truly spoiled we had been in past years when the trail had been in better condition. We were also probably in a bit better condition at the time. We can only hope that the trail will one day soon be rebuilt by the Forest Service. As for  us, we need to do more hiking!

Our trip to Black Rock Mountain and the Tennessee Rock Trail was a bit more challenging than we had expected. It is a moderately difficult hike; but, again, this was more of a function of our not being as young as we were the last time that we did it over 10 years ago. It is a beautiful hike through various elevations and varieties of forest greenery, lovely fern covered sections and areas where, due to the thickness of the forest canopy, much less flora can be observed along the path. We must revisit this trail during the Spring when many of these plants will be in bloom.

The views from the trail at the top of the mountain of Tennessee are spectacular as are the views from the park’s parking lot overlooking Clayton, GA and the surrounding area.

We could easily have spent another hour just looking around and enjoying the beautiful forest area and views. We should have packed a lunch. Will do so next time!

Last month we made revisions to our website to feature Happenings at Lake Burton.

In the future that is where we will maintain calendars of events for the Lake and the surrounding area.

Enjoy!

This excellent article, written by Michael E. Maffett, MD and first published in Georgia Backroads, Winter 2014, gives an excellent overview of the history of the Tallulah River and the area surrounding Lake Burton.

It is provided on the website of the Lake Burton Civic Association.

Enjoy!