The tracks in the snow are of geese, but not snow geese.
This pair of Canada geese were hanging out at Cotton Hill campground on Lake George in Georgia.
I can imagine they were thinking they took a wrong turn somewhere on the migration down.
“Goodness, Godfrey! This ‘sand’ sure is cold!”
“Are you SURE this is Georgia? Did you even look at the GPS?”
We thought the sweetgum balls looked interesting with a coat of snow on them: quite edible-looking!
We dined in this lodge at Bagby State Park in Georgia. It was cozy and the food was good. The outside had a good coat of snow.
Beaver lodges are more noticeable when dusted in snow. We saw several on our trip.
But this one had already melted when we found it just down from our cabin.
On this log you can see the chewing evidence.
I think I preferred our lodge meals.
We were hiking down the Providence Canyon trail when we came upon some parked (junked) vehicles, made actually quite charming by the snow. There was a park sign that explained that the vehicles had been parked there when it was privately owned farm land and that since they had been there for so long, they had become habitats and so were going to be left in place.
As we approached the first one, B said, “That station wagon was my first car.” (Well, not THAT one, but one like it.) “I bought it for $125---and it ran! It was a 1958 Chevy Nomad.”
Cool, huh?
But wait! It gets even better.
At the second one we came to--- the one with the tree growing through it ---our friend said, “This was my first truck!”
Pretty funny coincidence.
Of course, there are other coincidences in this friendship. One of which is that their fathers are buried just a couple of graves apart and died within a year or so of each other. They never met. It was only visiting graves that the discovery was made.
Life is always interesting.
We had planned to go to Providence Canyon to day hike and when the roads looked so much better on Saturday, we decided to go for it, thinking that the snow on the canyon walls would be a nice contrast. That was somewhat of an understatement.
Providence Canyon is known as the “Little Grand Canyon” and as I have only seen the Grand Canyon twice and both times it was snowy, I would have to agree with the nickname.
The canyon was created by erosion from uninformed farming practices in the 1800’s. The deepest spot is over 150 feet deep.
This was the first time that B and I had ever been here. Our friends had been here once before. It is off the beaten path, so to speak, and you have to intend to go there to go there. But it is well worth it. However, I think we saw it at its absolute best and as such, I have no desire to go back.
These are the public restrooms. The roof had a thick coat of snow.
The visitor’s center is closed because of budget cuts. We were amused to see an FSU Outdoor Pursuits van in the parking lot. Our older son has driven that van with students to this very backpack hiking location.
We took the White Trail that is for day hikers. It was quite slick in places.
The White Trail may have been white on the sides, but it was red clay mud in the middle.
This stream runs through the bottom of the canyon.
There is no bridge.
Snow-melt ran down the sloped trail to join the stream.
It was pretty soupy in places.
Gotta love Gore-tex boots.
After the snowmen had been made, we were obligated to throw a few snowballs. I discovered that I don’t have the arm for it, though I do seem to make a good target!
The next morning, the snowballs that had not hit anything, (or anyone ---those were probably mine!) could still be found intact, while the rest of the snow was showing signs of loss.
When we returned to our cabin, the first item on the agenda was to make a snowman. This was by far the largest snowman I had ever made and the first big one that one of our friends had ever made.
Since he was basically on the beach of the lake, his eyes were muscle shells. His nose was a water oak leaf. His mouth was made from sweetgum balls.
We also made a little table-top guy that certainly had a personality all his own.
We made these Friday night when it was still snowing and they were still there Sunday morning when we left, though the tabletop guy completely lost his head over the whole thing and had a melt-down.
While the larger one lost his teeth and as well as his heart on Valentine’s Day.
But all things considered, for central Georgia snowmen, they had rather long lives.
Thumpety, thump, thump,
Thumpety, thump, thump!….(Look at Frosty go!)
If the drive to Westville had been tense, the drive back was even more so. It had not stopped snowing. Snow and ice collected in and on the car. I had never driven in such conditions and so I was very, very cautious. To reinforce this, we saw 6 vehicles that had skidded off the roads.
The courthouse in Lumpkin:
Out the windshield:
Never, ever did I expect to meet a snowplow in central Georgia, but we did. It flew in out of the white and was gone before we could get a picture. You can see its evidence, though.
But within a couple of miles, even that was covered with new snow.
Families were out playing.
Even the corn stubble had been covered.
The Camry looked a little cold at the end of the drive and the snow had defined a face that I had never noticed before.
