All right, we have arrived at uh the Canada Creek Trail. Supposed to be Canada Creek Trail to Big
Creek Falls, but um we've been on this trail before and it gets cut off by some private
property. So, Godfrey and I are just going to take this hike. It's supposed to be pretty easy.
Um, it's about what 70° and uh sunny late spring day. Should be an easy hike.
He's excited to be out. Let's see how he does. So, let's get going. So,
it has been raining quite a bit here in Georgia in North Georgia. And you could
see here that a lot of this road's been kind of washed out a bit and the uh the streams,
the creeks seem to be running kind of strong. Hopefully not too bad to get across some of
these water crossings this time. Here we go. The creek is running pretty strong.
really rushing. That's going to be hard to get across even though it's really small. So,
I semisuccessfully tossed the log across the stream. I say semi because it's not quite
where I needed to be, but whatever. Ended up splashing myself a bit in the process,
but I'm across. I don't think it'd be too difficult to get back across on the way back.
So, like I said, we've been here before. We've seen these before, but you know,
I'm going back over some old trails. The ones that I remember are easy. Um because,
you know, Godfrey's hips are not friendly to him anymore. So,
um I still remember this was a decent a decent hike, even though it was easy.
Godfrey never missed a puddle he didn't like.
All right, with all this rain, the road,
this is like a forest service road type thing, is a little bit washed out. So now
we got to walk off to the side and see if I can't find a dry way around this.
I think the last time we came, we're walking right now through some pretty tall grass. I
think this was pretty pretty uh cut back before. Or maybe we came earlier in the
spring. It wasn't so dense. Looks beautiful though. So, this trail is rated as easy. I
don't remember how easy it was exactly, but I'm counting on the rating uh to be accurate.
So Godfrey can have a good a good hike in the woods without trying to kill himself.
And it follows the creek, Canada Creek, I would imagine. And it's supposed to go to some falls,
but I wish uh wish didn't get that didn't cut across private property or at least that they
didn't um put a chain up across that. That's what I remember. I took a picture of it before because
we were disappointed that we couldn't continue on. Hey, looks like the storms have down some tree
limbs. So, there's a tree blocking the trail here. So, we're going to have to bushwack it a little
bit through the woods to get around that blockage. See where we can go. Well, that wasn't too bad.
Um, but the trail does seem a bit overgrown.
Um, the trail itself is well worn, but the vegetation along the sides are all
kind of starting to creep in. And I know I'm even though it's like after 10:00,
I'm the first person out here because of all the spiderw webs that are hitting me in the face.
this beautiful creek that runs right along the trail.
And my dog has decided to uh sit in the mud.
Why would you do that, Godfrey? First tiny little water crossing. The first
one I don't really count. I think that one because it's part of the Forest
Service road. the other one. You could actually just if you got the right car,
like I have a Jeep. I could probably just drive across that one. But I think it's better to park
where I park cuz there's more space. Now there's lots of little trees falling over, blocking
the trail. Nothing that anybody can't really go around, over, or through. Just the thing to note,
there are some really beautiful views of the creek and the forest on this trail. It
It seems like it would be uh like it should be boring, but it really isn't. There's a lot to
kind of take in while you're walking here with these giant trees, giant pines. And
something to be said about just listening to the water rushing in the creek while you hike
this. I remember I remember this little tea in the trail and me not knowing which way to go
and then I couldn't find it when I went back. But hopefully this time it'll be easier to remember.
And another tree that's been knocked down, but clearly people have chopped their way through.
Some nice waterfalls down there, but I can't get down there.
I think I'm getting close to the point where I had to turn back last time because of a private
property sign. We'll see what happens this time. It's really nice waterfall down there,
but I I just can't get there. Not with Godfrey in his current state. Curse you, dog. Seems to me the
private property sign may have been removed because I don't think I was this far before.
Hopefully, it was removed by the owner and not by some crazy hiker and now going to get me killed
over it. We'll see. All right. So, I know for sure I'm past where I was before uh using the
All Trails app, the map there, but it's still not correct. So, maybe the All Trails um map is
incorrect to begin with. I didn't want to go too far down because it's kind of a steep hill and I
don't want Godfrey to have to climb back up this thing from the bottom. So, we're going to go back
up and see if I can find where the trail maybe is supposed to be. These are the markers that
mark off where the private property starts. These red marks on the tree. There used to be a chain
going across, but it's gone now. And according to the All Trails app, I should be turning right and
going up this hill, but there's no no discernable trail. So, either it was there at one time and
gone or never there. We'll turn back and see if we can't make it back down by the creek somewhere.
All right, we've turned around. We're almost back to the side trail that takes us back down to the
creek. When I get down there, I'm going to try to go along the creek there and see if there's some
way I can find to to get to those big falls without it being too difficult for Godfrey.
A little bit of a drink break with the old dog. So, now we're slightly off the beaten path. So,
I'm trying to make it down to where the creek is. You see it?
just over there. But I'm trying to find an easy way so my old dog can go. Okay, we're
making our way down to the creek. That wasn't too bad. I just don't think there's a way across.
Well, we'll see. We'll see what we can do. Right, Try? Okay, we made it down to the creek. And even
this is pretty spectacular, but I can see way off in the distance. I can get across,
but rounding this bend, there is nowhere for Godfrey to walk.
It's just way too steep. So, we'll have to be satisfied with this being
the highlight of the hike. Somebody's not happy that he can't get down here anymore.
This is so sad cuz it's not really that that far,
but in his younger days, he would do that without a problem. But now he knows.
So, of course, I took too long and he came down anyway. That was our fun for the day.
I can't in good conscience put him in any further danger because he just wants to be wherever I'm
at. So, we won't see the rest of that and we will just move on. Go ahead, Godfrey.
Well, if you choose to come on this hike and you're able-bodied, you're going to
want to try to scramble down there because there's some really beautiful waterfalls.
Maybe one time I'll come up without Godfrey and just make the scramble. See what I can see
cuz it really is nice. I had one last lingering bright idea. Uh cuz there's a really big waterfall
over there and I found a shallow area where we could walk down. So, I was able to get down to
near the top of it, but without scrambling, there's no way to get down to the other side,
at least with my dog. And I'm not blaming it on him. That's uh just a fact of life. So,
I told him, as a courtesy to you, I am uh foregoing looking at these falls. And
we'll just continue on back to the Jeep. Yet this stretch of the hike is really tranquil.
It is flowing pretty good though with all these rains that we've had. But uh just that
the gentle babbling creek babbling. Well, it's not a brook. It's not a river. Smaller than a river,
bigger than a brook. It's a creek. So, it's still early spring and not everything is in bloom,
but some of these uh I think they're cherry laurels coming into bloom. Rodendrrons are almost
there. I see all the buds on them. I don't know. I wonder how many maybe another couple of weeks.
Some of these spots were just right along the creek or it's like
idyllic. It's like out of a story book
except for my dog. He's out of a horror movie.
All right, we're approaching the tall grass again. That means we're almost back, which is a shame,
but it this really is one of the nicest, most scenic short hikes that I've been on. There's
quite a bit to see. It's not It's makes it worth it. It's not just like a short walk in the woods.
This feels a little bit like the scene in uh Gladiator where Russell Crow is walking
through the giant field of wheat or whatever that is, brushing his hands across the top.
That's
perfect.
All right, we're coming up to the deep water crossing. About to get my feet wet.
Let's see how it goes.
Well, I made it across without getting wet, without video proof of my stumbles. Although,
you can see my feet are barely wet. So,
it's a success. I think now it's just this last bit up this road up the hill
and the Jeep is just around the corner. And here we are back up to the parking area.
It's not a difficult hike. If you're in North Georgia,
seek this one out. I'll have links in the description on the website. The casualhike.com