Georgia's High Point - "Brasstown Bald"

19th Feb 2006
From Alabama, we headed up back through Georgia, passing Atlanta - which was the biggest city we had passed since leaving the Washington DC area. Georgia's highest peak is in a place called Brasstown Bald, located at 4,784 feet. It is here in Georgia that the famous Appalachia mountains start and make it way up the east coast to Maine. When we arrived at 2pm, the road to the top was closed. After much contemplation (and reluctance on my part!), we decided we would walk the 4miles (6km) up to the summit. You don't know how many times I thought about turning around as we walked up the steep winding road up the mountain, passing various painted slogans on the road such as "Go Lance" as the mountain was part of the Tour de Georgia cycling race months earlier. We would pass people who were on their way down. Asking them how far to the top, they would come back with answers like "when you see the 2 mile marker, its about another mile or two". Gee...knew that! Asking another couple we passed, the guy came back with the answer "Well (in the southern Georgia drawl)...it's a mighty long way". Mark and I looked at each other. Could Georgian people ever just given a straight answer? A simple "you have another hour or so to go" would have sufficed! Surprisingly it only took 1hour and 20 minutes to reach the summit which was marked by a visitor centre. The building was closed and the place was all icy. Again, a picture or two and taking in the icy surroundings around us and we were off down the mountain.