The Hiking Adventures of Gadget & Goose

Around 9:00 in the morning, my hiking companions Barbara and Lily and I set out to find a hidden falls tucked away off the path of an AT approach trail that starts at the campground we were camping at, appropriately named Dockery Lake Trail. It starts off here, right by the lake. And just by the way, I could live here forever. I regress back to myself as a kid, who admiringly called the woods behind my great-grandmother's house "The Magical Forest", when I have the opportunity to abosrb mystical places like Dockery Lake.  At the first creek crossing -- there ended up being about 5 in total.  Another stream crossing = fun!  We rested at this log and had breakfast: Bel-Vita crackers, fruit, and coffee.  So much water on this trail.  Kudos to Barbara for his photography talent!  After some steep uphill switchbacking on the trail, we had to stop mindlessly following the trail and pay careful attention to our surroundings, if we were g

Chestatee Overlook (Suches, GA)  He (AKA Barbara) and I (AKA George) left the work week behind on a Wednesday afternoon to disappear deep in the forest of Vogel State Park in Blairsville, GA. This trip was in the making for weeks -- we knew we were going to be in for the long haul. The Camry was loaded down with four days' worth of clothes, food and supplies. Though we only had two nights reserved at Vogel, we knew there would be another special camping spot for us somewhere in the mountainside to complete our vacation. Upon our arrival at Vogel, it was dark, and I was legitimately spooked by some of the Halloween decorations that a few of the park's more long-term guests donned at their RV sites. Someone also strung red and green lights up and down the trees at the RV sites, which looked magical, and eased the images of Twisty the clown from American Horror Story that those creepy Halloween decorations invoked. What a poor choice of TV shows to begin wa