April 26, 2011
| This week’s hike started at Lake Winfield Scott and included the Slaughter Creek Trail up to the Appalachian Trail near Slaughter Gap the the A.T. to Jarrard Gap Trail back to the Lake and the Shoreline Trail. The trails are in Lumpkin County, GA.
HIKERS – John Bellamy, June Bellamy, Phil Brownrigg, Greta Driggers, Jim Driggers, Pam Euliss, Jeanne O’Connor, Lynne Porter-Whitmire, Rick Porter-Whitmire, Donna Presley, Tony Presley, Vic Robson and Dan Ross. Trail Info: Lake Winfield Scott has several options for hikers. The Slaughter Creek Trail, The Jarrard Gap Trail and the trail on the shoreline of the lake. We did a loop hike by starting out on the Slaughter Creek Trail up to the intersection of the Appalachian Trail (with the option of continuing an extra mile up to the summit of Blood Mt.) From the intersection we turned right and hiked on the A.T. to Jarrard Gap and turned right onto the Jarrard Gap Trail back down to Lake Winfield Scott and hiked on the Shoreline Trail. Total hike – 7 miles (note – 3 of our hikers did the extra 2 mi. round trip up to Blood Mt.) Total hiking distance today – 7 miles. (three did an extra 1.5 mi) Directions: From Cleveland, GA, travel North on Highway 129 for 21.3 miles and turn left just past Vogel State Park onto Highway 180. Continue on Highway 180 (Wolf Pen Gap Rd) for 6.7 miles and turn left at Lake Winfield Scott Rd to the parking lot. ($5 per car parking fee – seniors $2.50) Another great day for a hike! Mostly to partly cloudy with temperatures ranging from 68 to 76 F. WILDFLOWERS IN BLOOM: Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Showy Orchis, Flame Azalea, Catesby’s Trillium, Large-flowered Trillium, White Erect Trillium, Purple Toadshade Trillium, Yellow Toadshade Trillium, Purple Violet, Yellow Violet, Halberd-leafed Violet, Canada Violet, Sweet White Violet, Lyre-leafed Sage, Tall Buttercup, Hooked Buttercup, Dogwood, Silverbell, Hawkweed, Sweetshrub, Yellow Buckeye, Robin’s Plantain, Foamflower, Wild Geranium, Strawberry, Crested Dwarf Iris, Star Chickweed, Mouse-ear Chickweed, Stonecrop, Rattlesnake Weed, Frazier Magnolia, Yellow Star Grass, Barren Strawberry, Pussytoes, Yellowroot, Cinquefoil, Golden Alexander, Heart-leafed Golden Alexander, Nodding Mandarin, Yellow Mandarin, Meadow Rue, May Apple, Wood Betony, Umbrella Leaf, Wood Anemone, Perfoliated Bellwort, Toothwort, Cut-leafed Toothwort, White Baneberry, Red Baneberry, Blue Cohosh and Indian Cucumber. BIRDS IDENTIFIED: Oven Bird, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Carolina Wren, Tufted Titmouse, Red-eyed Vireo, Pileated Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Black-and-White Warbler, Pine Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Rose-breasted Grosbeak , Towhee, and American Crow. OTHER FAUNA: Box Turtle, Grey squirrel and Chipmunk. |
 Parking at Lake Winfield Scott. |
 Trail sign near our starting point. |
 Headed up the Slaughter Creek Trail toward the A.T. |
 A nice Box Turtle along the trail. |
 A beautiful group of Yellow Toadshade Trillium! |
 Continuing up the trail near Slaughter Gap. |
 Fungus of the week! A Morel? |
 We saw thousands of Trillium grandiflorum between Slaughter Gap and Jarrard Gap! |
 Lots of beautiful Wild Geraniums. |
 Lunchtime at Lake Winfield Scott Campground! |
 The lake trail. |
 Showy Orchis! |
 The OFHC gang for today’s hike. (l-r) Tony Presley, Donna Presley, Greta Driggers, Pam Euliss, Jim Driggers, John Bellamy, June Bellamy, Vic Robson, Jeanne O’Connor, Rick Porter-Whitmire, Dan Ross, Phil Brownrigg, Lynne Porter-Whitmire, “Merlin” and “Honey”. |