At Fort Mountain State Park in Georgia

Blog Post April 4-5, 2023

At Fort Mountain State Park in Georgia

We awoke on Tuesday to the sound of rain hitting the tent.  Once we stepped outside, we realized that it wasn’t actually raining.  The fog was so thick that condensation was dripping off the trees in a rain-like fashion.  We were somewhat surprised by the fog!

After a damp breakfast, we decided to drive to the start of a walk that would take us to the “wall” near the top of Fort Mountain.  This 930 foot wall zig zags below the summit of the mountain. It’s made of piled rock and is believed to have been constructed by Native Americans about 2,000 years ago.  The original purpose of the wall is unclear.  Interestingly, there are several other stone structures found in the southeastern states.  Some of these are walls but others are cairns, mounds or enclosures.  Legends abound regarding the people who built the wall at Fort Mountain but nothing is really known. As we walked along, the fog lifted off the top of the mountain.  Even better we were able to get some cell reception.  The forecast predicted clearing and a warm afternoon.  

Later in the day we walked a path around the spring-fed pond before returning to our campsite.  This turned out to be beautiful and we saw a lot of birds. A hearty lunch led to a slightly less ambitious afternoon!  We did hatch a plan for the next day.  The drive to Bayou le Batre, Alabama would be 430 miles—probably more than 8 hours.  So we planned on a 4:30 am wake time with a target departure of 5:30 am.

Today, Wednesday, started at 4:30 am!  I for one was not exactly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed!  Despite packing the car and tent in the dark, we were on the move by 5:15 am.  It’s really dark at that time!  Not to mention that it must be rush hour around Atlanta at that hour of the morning.  I wasn’t driving but I was freaked out—so many trucks, so much traffic all moving super fast.  Whoa! This brings me to the odd thought I had while we drove in the greater Atlanta area.  Traffic is like a big school of fish—everyone is swimming along smoothly.  Suddenly, some fish get spooked and the whole school darts off in a different direction.  With traffic, it’s similar.  Someone gets jittery, applies the brakes and suddenly the whole roadway is full of break lights and a big slow down results! (This is what happens when I have to get up too early in the morning.) 

To our surprise, we entered the central time zone shortly after crossing into Alabama.  Probably we should have realized that this would happen... Our long day got a bit longer. We arrived at our AirB&B at noon.  At this point I’m too tired to figure out how long the drive took—we leave that as an exercise for the reader.  After a few hours of birding at some locations in Mississippi (!) and a nice dinner at a restaurant, we are quite tired!  Tomorrow it’s off to explore the gulf coast of Alabama!   

Gloria

The view as we approached Fort Mountain State Park

A foggy morning indeed! (B&W)

Sitting on a plastic bin bag to have breakfast

The walk up to the summit of Fort Mountain

Centipede ??

One of many beautiful little Iris in the woods near the summit

Walking round the edge of the spring filled pond (iPhone)

Perfect reflection in the misty dead-calm (iPhone). By the time we finished walking around the fog had cleared and the sun was out.