Helen

At the end of June, me and Raque spent the day, checking out the sights around Helen.

Lol, it may seem like all I did in June was hang out with Raque, but I actually did a lot of rides that just aren't all that worth mentioning - like Dirty Sheets, Cochran Mill, Blankets, and some Comet Vomet. More on all that later...

Our first stop was Duke's Creek Falls.

There's actually a great view of Yonah from the lot, but it's kind-of behind the bathroom, and I'm not usually milling around there, so I don't usually notice it.

But I noticed it this time!

On the hike down to the falls, we passed some Brazilian ladies. They were far enough away that I didn't immediately recoginze that they were speaking Portuguese, mais pq ela é brasileira, Raque recognized it immediately.

There were a million people at the falls, but we managed to find some room along the rail.

Davis Creek Falls:

There were a bunch of dead hemlocks below the falls. Some are visible in that photo. We'd seen tags on some hemlocks on the way in, where they'd been treated against the blight, but it would appear that the ones below the falls had not been treated. I could imagine that either... 1) it's too sketchy and dangerous to get to them, 2) hey, if they die, then you just get a better view of the falls, or 3) both of the above. If I still had bros in the forest service, I'd ask them.

Lol. I had an employee named Andrew Young once, who loved the mountains. One day, I randomly ran into him, as I was riding, and he was driving up Trey Mountain. It would be hilarious if this was from him:

We checked out Duke's Creek Falls too...

...but there were way too many people around to go around the rail and swim in the pool below it.

So, we settled for a photo.

Maybe some other day.

Our next stop was Anna Ruby Falls, but we had to get through the gate before 4pm. Fortunately we did, but we were a little concerned about how we'd get back out. Turns out the gate will open automatically from the inside, but not from the outside.

Woo!

I always forget how steep and moderately strenuous the hike up to the falls is. Good that it's paved.

As there had been at Duke's, there were a million people at Anna Ruby, even though it was close to closing time. Fortunately, we were still able to get some nice views.

Our next stop was High Shoals Falls. We drove up over Unicoi Gap and hung that super sharp right near the bottom. Just past the second switchback, a tree had fallen across the road, and there were trucks in both directions trying to figure out what to do about it. It appeared to have just fallen. Nobody had a winch, but I had a tow rope, so we hooked it up to one of the trucks on the other side, and gently pulled the tree just far enough off to one side that everyone could get around it.

Tow rope for the win!

There was nobody there when we arrived at the upper cascade.

Raque absolutely loves cold water, so she just jumped right in, completely unconcerned about it.

It turned out that the water wasn't that cold. I mean, it was cold, but it was easily tolerable. If I'd been working hard all day, it would have felt great.

We swam and played in the water like kids for a while. Another family showed up, and they got in too. We had a great time!

The other family mentioned another cascade, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember if there was another one, so we all went down the trail a bit, and... oh yeah, there was another cascade!

No pool there, but we climbed all over it, and let the water pour all over us!

On the way out, I tried to balance beam out and back on a tree over the creek, but lost my balance turning around and stepped into the water. It made me more upset than I expected, and I had a soggy shoe for the rest of the day.

We took FS40 back, rather than the pavement, hoping to see a bear or something. No bears though, just an owl and a rabbit. And, the road was super rutted and slow going in a few spots.

We got back to Helen after 9, and walked around a bit.

We'd hoped to eat at the Troll Tavern, but it turned out that they closed at 9, even though the internet says that they close at 10. I guess I can't complain too much though, it's the same situation at Siracusa's, and Dave's tried a dozen times to fix it.

We ended up at Bigg Daddys instead, which was probably a better choice, anyway. I got a Georgia Clucker and Raque had a Rocky Top. Yeah, definitely a better choice.

Bigg Daddy's had a print of a painting of the old sawmill, iron bridge, and railway station on the wall, and some history describing it.

I've tried, a few times, to figure out exactly where the sawmill was, based on photos of it. I hoped that this would give me a better idea. Sadly, I'm just now remembering that I even took these photos. I'll have to see if I can figure it out with them in mind, sometime soon.

On the way home, I had a green light at the intersection with Long Branch Road - a rare occurrence, didn't recognize the intersection, drove right through it, and didn't realize I'd failed to make the turn until we were in Dahlonega. Good one, Dave!

The rest of the trip was uneventful though, just a nice drive home.