Godfrey and I are out on my 59th birthday hike. We're on the roaded engine trail to a
I forgot the name of the fire tower already. It's got an Indian name to it. It's a brisk
Late November morning. It's November 28th actually on my birthday today and it's about
35 degrees. So, we got to get the blood pumping and uh start warming up a bit. But other than
being about 35°, it's a beautifully sunny day. Looks to be a great day for a hike.
Scott and I came on this trail about two years ago. And this is near where I was last week near
Nancytown Lake and Lake Russell. And I'd forgotten about this trail and I went and
looked it up and remembered it was a fairly easy one for him to take. I think there's only one
uh more difficult incline towards the end near the tower,
but I don't think it's going to be that bad. I think it was gradual.
So, as I've mentioned before, I am from Chicago and this time of year
it tends to get cold. we get our first snows. And I've kind of tried to vow to
uh not lose my cold heartiness after I moved here to Georgia. But uh and so far I haven't
like right now it's like 35° and I brought a jacket and I brought gloves but I don't
have them on yet because um usually I would work up uh you know a little bit of a sweat
um in this kind of weather just by hiking going up the hills. Some beautiful waterfalls,
by the way. Little tiny rolling waterfalls, which I would normally scramble down to,
but as you know, my geriatric dog can't make those climbs anymore. Anyway,
so during the cold weather, you know, you get a few days in a
row of some pretty cold weather in Chicago and it kind of gets you acclimated for the winter.
That doesn't happen here. You know, like today, it'll probably get up close to 50°.
And even in the depth of winter, January, February, I would say, um, the highs probably
average from the mid40s to the mid50s and the lows, you know, like in the mid to upper 20s
to the mid to upper 30s. got wanted to get a squirrel. Um, but uh, so you don't really
ever get acclimated to some deep cold, so it makes uh, the not so cold temperatures feel colder. So,
I'm just trying not to get caught in that cuz I used to go out in the winter all the time
when the snow would fall, we get in some of the two week long deep breezes where it gets
below zero, you know, and I would even be shoveling snow in the lightest of jackets,
you know, cuz once you start shoveling 6 in of snow, you start building up a
bit of sweat and the blood starts pumping and you're just not cold. I would have gloves on,
but a lot of times I would have just a light jacket or not much
of a jacket at all. There's a really beautiful waterfall over here. See if we could zoom in.
There it goes. Can't get down to that one, unfortunately.
And he's crying cuz he wants to keep moving. So, we'll keep going.
And I don't have any gloves on right now, even though I probably should because it's hard to
use my phone, which is how I do all the videos, with gloves on. And anyway, I should probably get
one of the sticks with uh the shutter buttons on them, but I don't know. It's too much of a pain.
I used to use an Insta 360 camera and I had this um Zoom field recorder mic and have all
this stuff set up and it was just kind of a pain. This is a much easier system for me to record and
uh edit later on. Splice them together. So, this could be it might turn out to be a short
short podcast, a short video. Uh because if I do need to put my gloves on and I'm
going to be taking my phone out to record all the time onward. So Godfrey and I just
passed a few other hikers with another dog and Godfrey was his exemplary crazy self.
I will never understand why he doesn't like other dogs.
But that's why we're he's leashed on this trail which is will be a little bit more heavily
trafficked. Although I I was hoping it would be empty early morning the day after Thanksgiving.
There were no cars at the trail head but ours. So they must have walked in from somewhere.
So, as I was mentioning just a little earlier about the cold, walking up. Uh, a couple of
little inclines. Definitely got the blood moving. So, while the uh my body is fine, I'm not cold at
all there. my hands were. But now even those are getting better with the additional flow of blood.
All right, I guess we got to turn here.
Just an absolutely beautiful day. Couldn't have
asked for a better better weather for birthday hike.
All right, we've reached a water crossing where I'm going to have to let Wait,
Godfrey, wait, wait, wait. I'm going have to let Godfrey go so he can get
across and it'll be easier for me to figure it out. Okay, let's go.
Let's see how we can get across. Oh, it's not that bad. They look way more muddy.
But it's not. That was easy.
Up another hill. Here we go. So, we're starting on the big part of the hill,
which is probably about half of this trail, I think.
Maybe the last fourth.
But it's especially good on a day like today where you need to keep warm.
So up a bit, now down a bit.
I don't remember these steps. So,
it's called I should stop saying so. It's called the Roden Trail,
but I don't see a lot of roodendrrons as you would typically think of them.
There's a lot of mountain laurels and I don't know if they're in the same family
or not. And I probably said this the last time on the video. Last time I came here,
uh there's tons of mountain laurels. You walk through these like tunnels of them,
but none of the really big leafed rodendrrons that you would normally that I normally think of as a
roodendron that you see in a lot of the further north uh Georgia mountains on the trails up there.
And there's not a whole lot to see.
on this uh particular trail. It's relatively short. I think it's three miles out and back,
but it is a really nice, pleasant walk in the woods if that's what you're up for. And while it's
rated moderate because of some of the inclines, it's really not a difficult trail at all.
So, there is a side trail. Here's the name of the tower. Chinosa. That's my best attempt at
pronouncing uh pronouncing that. Chinosa tower. There's a side trail that'll take you to the Lake
Russell campgrounds. Oh, my dog's tied up. That's why I don't like hiking with a leash.
I end up doing tons of circles because he keeps tying me up and then back to Lake Russell Road.
All right, let's continue on. Let's go, Godfrey.
Just had to walk crouch under a fallen tree. That's why it helps to
uh keep working out in your old age.
I say that as I start to breathe heavy on the final climb
to the tower. So we're here at Chinosa Mountain,
one of the largest stands of roodendron minus in the United States, national historic site.
So you come out at the end there, there's a little monument there marking the trail
at this road and then we walk up a hill to get to uh the tower. So, the trail's here,
just not where I remembered it was. I thought it was behind the monument,
but it's further up the road. And you got this last little incline. And you're at the
tower that you can see off in the distance. Made it to the tower. That took less than an
hour. Probably if I don't have Godfrey, take me maybe 40 minutes, 45 minutes.
I don't know if this fire tower is still in use. I doubt it. Oh,
there are people stopped off to see things. So, I might have to take Godfrey on leash again.
Little bit of freedom for a few minutes. And off here you can see Lake Russell in the distance.
You can just see all around.
Somebody explain to me why my dog is so stupid. Why are you stupid? Why you stupid? All right,
let me get going. Hopefully there's not too much wind noise on this camera
because it's blowing in my face right now. But we're on the way back down.
That's the end of this birthday hike celebration. Well, in another 45 minutes or so. Okay,
we're back down from the tower. And I forgot to mention, this is what I meant to talk about with
regard to traditional roodendrrons. They planted some little ones here in front of the monument.
And there's a big one. Oh, no, that's a magnolia. Oh, here are the smaller ones. So,
these are the ones that are normally I consider roodendran. And what I see a lot of are more like
like these and they're sort of like I I thought they were called mountain laurels, but you know,
again, I'm from the city. I'm from Chicago. I could be wrong, but I tried to look them up.
So here here's more of a traditional what I would consider a rodend roodendran. So
enough rodendron talk. Back down. We will be heading north. They got a little marker
there. I didn't see that I don't think the last time. So back down the trail. Let's go, Godfrey.
It's almost all downhill from here. It's going to be a little
slippery because of all the leaves. There's a ton of leaves on the trail.
But I got to I got to mark this one as a favorite for Godfrey because this one's easy for him to do
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
unless you want to scale uh scramble down and see some of those smaller waterfalls
on the side. Um but it is a it is a pleasant hike, especially if you like a workout on that
last incline. It's you'll start questioning your your life decisions. I don't think these
inclines translate on video very well. Let's see the the steep angle. It's got to be 15° or more.
I don't know. Every time I watch them back and I and I see the video,
it's like, "Yeah, that doesn't look that steep." But when you're
here and your head is level and and you can see way down there,
um it's pretty steep. But you got to be careful, at least especially at this time
of year because this trail is so covered in leaves that you can't see the roots and the
rocks underneath. So you just kind of have to be careful. You'll twist an ankle. Just go slow
and everything will be good. But
uh I I'm going to watch this one again and see if this translates. I'm holding my phone
level right now. And I don't know if you can really see the bottom of the trail.
I'll check it out when I get back.
There's this little stream and a bridge. God, if you want to drink, go drink.
Do you let your dog drink in random streams? With the stuff he eats and and the bad puddle water
he drinks and he doesn't throw up, I have no fear of a nice uh clear running stream.
I do carry water with him, but that's in case um there's no water on the trail.
I'll let him get as much as he wants and then we go. All right, Godfrey,
let's go. You can tell he's tired. Tough getting up the bank just from that stream,
but it's the rest of the way is easy. We the downhill stuff he can do pretty well.
But after a few miles, you know, what used to be my
uh long-distance trail dog now is uh like me, part of the geriatric set.
It's our only other mini water crossing. It's the only one you actually have to step into.
Okay. He seems like he got plenty to drink. So, on we go.
I'm going to put him back on leash. So, it's almost 11:00 right now. Sun's
a little bit higher in the sky and you could definitely feel it warming up now.
No jacket required as Phil Collins said. Does
that Does that date me at all? 80s Phil Collins. No jacket required.
Not too much left of the trail.
and this uh 59th birthday extravaganza.
I definitely feel like I record a lot less on these out and back hikes. Um because you know
it's going to the point where you stop. That's where everything's new and then on the way
back you've already seen it. Now obviously you're coming from the other direction but
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
haven't what I what I believe to be an interesting thought. may not be interesting to anybody else,
but uh interesting to me. And I bring it out. Bring out the camera and hit record.
And I was just glad I could even record anything. I thought maybe if it was going to stay in the,
you know, mid to lower 30s that I'd have to put the gloves on. But nope,
it once we start hitting the hill and then uh the sun got a little bit higher
in the sky. Temperature is beautiful right now. Absolutely beautiful.
I can see this leaf colored uh colored leaf covered trail.
I can see the road, the bridge, and my jeep. So,
that brings us to the end of this hike and the road denturing trail. Um just outside Mount Ary,
Georgia in the Chattahuchi National Forest near Lake Russell. It's Aladdin.
That's it. I'll catch you on the next hike.