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Godfrey and I are out on my 59th birthday 
hike. We're on the roaded engine trail to a

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I forgot the name of the fire tower already. 
It's got an Indian name to it. It's a brisk

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Late November morning. It's November 28th 
actually on my birthday today and it's about

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35 degrees. So, we got to get the blood pumping 
and uh start warming up a bit. But other than

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being about 35°, it's a beautifully sunny 
day. Looks to be a great day for a hike.

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Scott and I came on this trail about two years 
ago. And this is near where I was last week near

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Nancytown Lake and Lake Russell. And I'd 
forgotten about this trail and I went and

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looked it up and remembered it was a fairly easy 
one for him to take. I think there's only one

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uh more difficult incline 
towards the end near the tower,

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but I don't think it's going to be 
that bad. I think it was gradual.

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So, as I've mentioned before, I am 
from Chicago and this time of year

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it tends to get cold. we get our first 
snows. And I've kind of tried to vow to

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uh not lose my cold heartiness after I moved 
here to Georgia. But uh and so far I haven't

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like right now it's like 35° and I brought 
a jacket and I brought gloves but I don't

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have them on yet because um usually I would 
work up uh you know a little bit of a sweat

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um in this kind of weather just by hiking 
going up the hills. Some beautiful waterfalls,

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by the way. Little tiny rolling waterfalls, 
which I would normally scramble down to,

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but as you know, my geriatric dog can't 
make those climbs anymore. Anyway,

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so during the cold weather, you 
know, you get a few days in a

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row of some pretty cold weather in Chicago and 
it kind of gets you acclimated for the winter.

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That doesn't happen here. You know, like 
today, it'll probably get up close to 50°.

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And even in the depth of winter, January, 
February, I would say, um, the highs probably

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average from the mid40s to the mid50s and the 
lows, you know, like in the mid to upper 20s

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to the mid to upper 30s. got wanted to get 
a squirrel. Um, but uh, so you don't really

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ever get acclimated to some deep cold, so it makes 
uh, the not so cold temperatures feel colder. So,

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I'm just trying not to get caught in that cuz 
I used to go out in the winter all the time

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when the snow would fall, we get in some of 
the two week long deep breezes where it gets

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below zero, you know, and I would even be 
shoveling snow in the lightest of jackets,

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you know, cuz once you start shoveling 
6 in of snow, you start building up a

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bit of sweat and the blood starts pumping and 
you're just not cold. I would have gloves on,

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but a lot of times I would have 
just a light jacket or not much

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of a jacket at all. There's a really beautiful 
waterfall over here. See if we could zoom in.

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There it goes. Can't get down 
to that one, unfortunately.

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And he's crying cuz he wants to 
keep moving. So, we'll keep going.

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And I don't have any gloves on right now, even 
though I probably should because it's hard to

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use my phone, which is how I do all the videos, 
with gloves on. And anyway, I should probably get

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one of the sticks with uh the shutter buttons on 
them, but I don't know. It's too much of a pain.

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I used to use an Insta 360 camera and I had 
this um Zoom field recorder mic and have all

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this stuff set up and it was just kind of a pain. 
This is a much easier system for me to record and

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uh edit later on. Splice them together. So, 
this could be it might turn out to be a short

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short podcast, a short video. Uh because 
if I do need to put my gloves on and I'm

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going to be taking my phone out to record 
all the time onward. So Godfrey and I just

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passed a few other hikers with another dog 
and Godfrey was his exemplary crazy self.

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I will never understand why 
he doesn't like other dogs.

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But that's why we're he's leashed on this trail 
which is will be a little bit more heavily

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trafficked. Although I I was hoping it would be 
empty early morning the day after Thanksgiving.

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There were no cars at the trail head but ours. 
So they must have walked in from somewhere.

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So, as I was mentioning just a little earlier 
about the cold, walking up. Uh, a couple of

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little inclines. Definitely got the blood moving. 
So, while the uh my body is fine, I'm not cold at

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all there. my hands were. But now even those are 
getting better with the additional flow of blood.

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All right, I guess we got to turn here.

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Just an absolutely beautiful day. Couldn't have

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asked for a better better 
weather for birthday hike.

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All right, we've reached a water crossing 
where I'm going to have to let Wait,

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Godfrey, wait, wait, wait. I'm going 
have to let Godfrey go so he can get

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across and it'll be easier for me 
to figure it out. Okay, let's go.

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Let's see how we can get across. Oh, it's 
not that bad. They look way more muddy.

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But it's not. That was easy.

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Up another hill. Here we go. So, we're 
starting on the big part of the hill,

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which is probably about 
half of this trail, I think.

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Maybe the last fourth.

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But it's especially good on a day like 
today where you need to keep warm.

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So up a bit, now down a bit.

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I don't remember these steps. So,

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it's called I should stop saying 
so. It's called the Roden Trail,

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but I don't see a lot of roodendrrons 
as you would typically think of them.

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There's a lot of mountain laurels and I 
don't know if they're in the same family

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or not. And I probably said this the last 
time on the video. Last time I came here,

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uh there's tons of mountain laurels. You 
walk through these like tunnels of them,

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but none of the really big leafed rodendrrons that 
you would normally that I normally think of as a

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roodendron that you see in a lot of the further 
north uh Georgia mountains on the trails up there.

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And there's not a whole lot to see.

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on this uh particular trail. It's relatively 
short. I think it's three miles out and back,

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but it is a really nice, pleasant walk in the 
woods if that's what you're up for. And while it's

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rated moderate because of some of the inclines, 
it's really not a difficult trail at all.

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So, there is a side trail. Here's the name of 
the tower. Chinosa. That's my best attempt at

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pronouncing uh pronouncing that. Chinosa tower. 
There's a side trail that'll take you to the Lake

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Russell campgrounds. Oh, my dog's tied up. 
That's why I don't like hiking with a leash.

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I end up doing tons of circles because he keeps 
tying me up and then back to Lake Russell Road.

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All right, let's continue on. Let's go, Godfrey.

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Just had to walk crouch under a 
fallen tree. That's why it helps to

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uh keep working out in your old age.

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I say that as I start to 
breathe heavy on the final climb

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to the tower. So we're here at Chinosa Mountain,

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one of the largest stands of roodendron minus 
in the United States, national historic site.

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So you come out at the end there, there's 
a little monument there marking the trail

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at this road and then we walk up a hill to 
get to uh the tower. So, the trail's here,

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just not where I remembered it was. 
I thought it was behind the monument,

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but it's further up the road. And you got 
this last little incline. And you're at the

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tower that you can see off in the distance. 
Made it to the tower. That took less than an

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hour. Probably if I don't have Godfrey, 
take me maybe 40 minutes, 45 minutes.

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I don't know if this fire tower 
is still in use. I doubt it. Oh,

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there are people stopped off to see things. So, 
I might have to take Godfrey on leash again.

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Little bit of freedom for a few minutes. And off 
here you can see Lake Russell in the distance.

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You can just see all around.

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Somebody explain to me why my dog is so stupid. 
Why are you stupid? Why you stupid? All right,

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let me get going. Hopefully there's 
not too much wind noise on this camera

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because it's blowing in my face right 
now. But we're on the way back down.

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That's the end of this birthday hike celebration. 
Well, in another 45 minutes or so. Okay,

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we're back down from the tower. And I forgot to 
mention, this is what I meant to talk about with

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regard to traditional roodendrrons. They planted 
some little ones here in front of the monument.

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And there's a big one. Oh, no, that's a 
magnolia. Oh, here are the smaller ones. So,

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these are the ones that are normally I consider 
roodendran. And what I see a lot of are more like

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like these and they're sort of like I I thought 
they were called mountain laurels, but you know,

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again, I'm from the city. I'm from Chicago. I 
could be wrong, but I tried to look them up.

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So here here's more of a traditional what 
I would consider a rodend roodendran. So

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enough rodendron talk. Back down. We will 
be heading north. They got a little marker

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there. I didn't see that I don't think the last 
time. So back down the trail. Let's go, Godfrey.

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It's almost all downhill from 
here. It's going to be a little

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slippery because of all the leaves. 
There's a ton of leaves on the trail.

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But I got to I got to mark this one as a favorite 
for Godfrey because this one's easy for him to do

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and it's not a bad trail. It's a fun trail to 
hike. There's just not a lot uh a lot to see

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unless you want to scale uh scramble down 
and see some of those smaller waterfalls

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on the side. Um but it is a it is a pleasant 
hike, especially if you like a workout on that

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last incline. It's you'll start questioning 
your your life decisions. I don't think these

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inclines translate on video very well. Let's see 
the the steep angle. It's got to be 15° or more.

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I don't know. Every time I watch 
them back and I and I see the video,

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it's like, "Yeah, that doesn't 
look that steep." But when you're

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here and your head is level and 
and you can see way down there,

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um it's pretty steep. But you got to be 
careful, at least especially at this time

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of year because this trail is so covered in 
leaves that you can't see the roots and the

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rocks underneath. So you just kind of have to 
be careful. You'll twist an ankle. Just go slow

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and everything will be good. But

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uh I I'm going to watch this one again and 
see if this translates. I'm holding my phone

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level right now. And I don't know if you 
can really see the bottom of the trail.

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I'll check it out when I get back.

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There's this little stream and a bridge. 
God, if you want to drink, go drink.

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Do you let your dog drink in random streams? With 
the stuff he eats and and the bad puddle water

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he drinks and he doesn't throw up, I have 
no fear of a nice uh clear running stream.

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I do carry water with him, but that's in 
case um there's no water on the trail.

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I'll let him get as much as he wants 
and then we go. All right, Godfrey,

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let's go. You can tell he's tired. Tough 
getting up the bank just from that stream,

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but it's the rest of the way is easy. We 
the downhill stuff he can do pretty well.

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But after a few miles, you 
know, what used to be my

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uh long-distance trail dog now is uh 
like me, part of the geriatric set.

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It's our only other mini water crossing. It's 
the only one you actually have to step into.

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Okay. He seems like he got 
plenty to drink. So, on we go.

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I'm going to put him back on leash. 
So, it's almost 11:00 right now. Sun's

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a little bit higher in the sky and you 
could definitely feel it warming up now.

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No jacket required as Phil Collins said. Does

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that Does that date me at all? 80s 
Phil Collins. No jacket required.

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Not too much left of the trail.

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and this uh 59th birthday extravaganza.

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I definitely feel like I record a lot less on 
these out and back hikes. Um because you know

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it's going to the point where you stop. That's 
where everything's new and then on the way

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back you've already seen it. Now obviously 
you're coming from the other direction but

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still you've already seen it. So I I really don't 
record as much as when I'm on a loop. So almost I

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haven't what I what I believe to be an interesting 
thought. may not be interesting to anybody else,

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but uh interesting to me. And I bring it 
out. Bring out the camera and hit record.

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And I was just glad I could even record anything. 
I thought maybe if it was going to stay in the,

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you know, mid to lower 30s that I'd 
have to put the gloves on. But nope,

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it once we start hitting the hill and 
then uh the sun got a little bit higher

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in the sky. Temperature is beautiful 
right now. Absolutely beautiful.

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I can see this leaf colored 
uh colored leaf covered trail.

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I can see the road, the bridge, and my jeep. So,

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that brings us to the end of this hike and the 
road denturing trail. Um just outside Mount Ary,

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Georgia in the Chattahuchi National 
Forest near Lake Russell. It's Aladdin.

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That's it. I'll catch you on the next hike.