After a hearty breakfast the four of us began the trek back down the mountain. To add a little variety to the trip we took the alternate route back down. You continued on the trail to the inn for an additional mile and ran into the Appalachian Trail Approach Trail and went back to the top of Amicalola Falls where our cars were parked.
To make amends to the Miata for leaving it out all night in the “wilderness” we used the 4 hours we had to waste before checking into the lodge on the state park and went for a drive in the surrounding mountains. We tried to duplicate the loop the bicyclists took last weekend in the reverse direction. We almost made it, missed one turn, so we didn’t drive across the one-lane bridge, but that wasn’t a great loss. The best part of the drive is GA60 north of Dahlonega. There is a stretch of it that is nicknamed “The Snake” and is a Mecca for motorcyclists because of it’s twisty loopy route over a couple of mountain passes. Yehaw! The highlight of the whole drive was about 03/4 of the way through when about 75 yards in front of our 2 car parade a decent size black bear bounded down from the woods on one side of the road and beat feet across to jump the guardrail into the woods on the other side. That was either one smart bear to wait for a gap in traffic or a lucky one.
Purchased Today: $14.50 in gas
Money spent since 03/03/03: $171.08
Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 71