Sat, May 16 2009 - Arkaquah Trail to Brasstown Bald (View Original Event Details) Trip Leader(s): John Weatherman, Danny, Tracey Steiner Participants: Tracey Steiner, John Weatherman, Tom Jarosz (Yah-rosz), Jon Miner, Alonzo Whyte, Marshall, Danny, Kathy Malone, Ravi Mannam, Gary Babiarz, Jeff Gimpel, Mary Padgett, Ron Walker, Gary Hubert

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If you've done the Arkaquah Trail with the AOC in the past several months, you reached the top with a visibility of about 10 feet or less.  Today's hike was fantastic in comparison!  We were underway near the planned 8:00am time, and synced up at the Burger King in Blairsville.  After a 15 minute or so brunch break, we pressed on to the trailhead at Track Rock Gap.  It was very humid, and the sweat starting pouring pretty quickly during the relentless 1350 foot climb in the initial 1.7 miles up to Buzzard Roost Ridge.  All of the Bloodroot and Toadshade Trillium had already shed their blooms, but on the ridge we saw a lot of Rhododendren blooms, Mountain Laurel buds, and a few Flaming Azalea blooms.  Best of all, there were views along the way from the ridgeline.  You could even see the top of Brasstown Bald from the ridge once we got about a mile or so from it.  On top we were rewarded with the partly cloudy view, but you see far enough to see the 4 states.  We've gotten to know the ranger that works in the visitor's center.  Once again, he didn't mind that we ate lunch in the center.  He showed us the stealthily located USGS marker, but he didn't let us climb up the ranger tower :-(  The ranger also informed us of the approaching rain which was supposed to begin at 1:00pm.  It was 1:03pm when he told us about it.  Because of the impending rain, we decided not to tarry much longer and headed back down.  The rain did come, but not much of it, and it felt great because it was followed by cool breezes on the ridgeline.  We had a strong group today and made it back down to the trailhead in superior time.  We decided to head back to Kennesaw and have some socializing and dinner at the nearby Taco Mac.  The hike was a great success with nobody falling or getting hurt despite the trail's slippery and technical areas.  Everyone was wet from the exertion and humidity but not from the small amount of rain that we encountered on the way down.