Last week was beautiful in northeast Georgia and on top of that everything was blooming. I thought this could be a flowering crab apple tree but because it was on a ridge in the middle of the National Forest, I doubt this is true.

Even though the road “looks” passable, its not. Loggers have ruined the turnpike in this section. We were sick at heart last year when we drove up to an area that we once called “the meadows.” Not only were there no meadow, the landscape looked like pure destruction had taken place. This year the forest and the land is trying to recover but it will be many, many years before any forest will once again be visible and the road itself will never be like it was when early settlers once traveled it north to Helen, Georgia, and beyond.

 

The Turnpike in this area is only useable by dirt bikes. You have to hike in and out and nothing is recognizable. The landscape we once knew and loved at Toccoa Falls College is gone. The shady pathway opened up to the elements and sadly tremendous erosion. Several of us have talked about forming a group that would protect this part of the turnpike so this could never happen again.

You can really see the destruction the logging trucks made in this photo. This once was a quiet turn along the Unicoi Turnpike, which is probably one, if not the most, historical road in Georgia. We were on our way to visit an old grave yard where residences that once lived along the Turnpike are buried.

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