Another Visit To Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park

Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park is the fourth stop on our first round of camping for the season. This is one of our favorite parks. It's the largest State Park in Georgia, and another of the many that was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. That beautiful stone work on the park office is a prime example of their craftsmanship. The park is unusually busy, one thing because it's the weekend, and another because there's a geocaching tournament going on. Our favorite campsites were taken, but we found a suitable replacement in the second camping loop, campsite number 218. Gary has already been out exploring the park, taking pictures all over the place. He especially likes Lake Delanor, the scenic overlooks, and Dowdell's Knob, the area where the FDR statue is. His sister and brother-in-law live about 25 miles away from the park, so I know he will be visiting with them a lot while we are here. TV reception is pretty decent, and I've already found the station that has People's Court and some of my other favorites, so I'll be fully entertained while Gary is away. The temperature is a bit high today. We're hoping for cooler nights so we don't have to use the air conditioner, but that remains to be seen. We will definitely miss those cool days and nights that we experienced at Fort Mountain State Park. That was PERFECT!!! I'm not feeling too talkative today, so I'll let the beauty of the park speak for itself in the pictures I'm sharing with you. We'll be here for five nights, and I'm going to relax and feed the squirrels that are stopping by looking for food. Enjoy the pics, and I'll chat with you again soon.

On The Outside Of Fort Mountain State Park

Besides all of the things you can do inside Fort Mountain State Park, there are plenty of other activities and beautiful mountain views outside the park. While I rested and enjoyed our nice shady campsite, Gary and Dodge spent a good amount of time in nearby Chatsworth, Dalton, Ellijay, and even as far away as Tunnel Hill and Ringgold. Gary constantly shops for antiques, and the list of antique stores he visited while in the Fort Mountain area was a long one. He found a new favorite in Dalton called Bucket List Antiques, and visited an old favorite in Tunnel Hill called Grumpy's. Bucket List was smaller, but fun. Grumpy's is HUGE, with everything from little items to motorcycles and cars. Both stores had plenty of things that Gary just HAD to have. He will return to both of them on every visit to the area, and I know that for certain. Coming from nearby Chatsworth, those mountains may look tiny in the distance, but don't be fooled. Poor old Dodge had to haul Gary and all his purchases up and down those steep hills and constantly winding roads MANY times, and you know how much he dislikes inclines. At least he didn't have to tow me but once going up, and once coming down. Black bears may be common in the area, but the only one that was seen by us, is the one that someone hit with their vehicle and killed. Gary got closer to him to take the pictures than I would have. SCARY! On a lighter note, there are several scenic overlooks with safe places to pull off the roadway and enjoy. The views aren't quite as spectacular as those within the park, but very pretty nevertheless. Like I said in my last post, we will definitely return to Fort Mountain again. It's a beautiful park with lots to see and do, the campground is AWESOME, and if you're an antique fanatic like my buddy Gary, there's a couple of the best antique stores ANYWHERE within a relatively short driving distance. Who could ask for more?

Inside Fort Mountain State Park, Chatsworth, GA.

Sorry I haven't posted since last weekend, but I have a VERY good excuse. We spent four nights at Fort Mountain State Park in Chatsworth, Georgia, but there was NO cellphone reception or internet connections. There wasn't even Wi-Fi at the park office. It's just as well, I guess. We did have basic cable TV, so I was busy watching some of my favorite shows. I really couldn't pull myself away for long enough to blog anyway. We had never been to Fort Mountain before, but it definitely won't be our last visit. Other than the lack of communication, we had an AWESOME time, and a BEAUTIFUL campsite. The daytime temperatures never got above 68 degrees in the shady campground. It was 51 to 53 degrees every morning. PERFECT! As we usually do, we rolled through both camping loops after checking in at the Trading Post/Park Office. We picked out a couple of good looking campsites in the Creekside loop, but fell in love with site number 49 in the Lakeside loop once we saw it. As a bonus for Gary, the restroom was only a couple of hundred feet away. Gary was warned about the presence of black bears while checking in. All of the garbage cans are bear proof, and there are warning signs throughout the park. We never saw any (thankfully) inside the park, but Gary saw a dead one that had been hit by a car on the side of the road during one of his trips down the mountain. There is plenty for you humans to do within the park. There are miles of trails, a beach, mini-golf, boating, bicycling, fishing, etc. And there are spectacular views if you don't mind hiking for a while to reach the overlooks. Fort Mountain is another park developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps back in the 1930's. Some of the original structures are still standing and being used, like one of the picnic pavilions and the recently restored fire tower. The cabins look really nice, and there are new ones currently under construction. Gary walked for miles while we were there, and he still didn't see everything there was to see. The park is over 3700 acres, and the elevation is over 3800 feet. Poor old Dodge was straining his guts out pulling me up those hills. Needless to say, he isn't as big of a fan of mountainous parks as Gary and I. He always gets us where we want to go though, and he never complains. What a guy! Gary took over 300 pictures. I sorted through them and picked out a few of my favorites to share with you. I'll do a separate post soon with some pics that were taken outside the park as well. I would have put them all together in this one post, but I didn't want to overwhelm you. Fort Mountain is now on our list of favorites, and Gary has already mentioned a return trip next fall. Next time, I'm sure we will stay longer than four days. That just wasn't enough time to take it all in. We might come a little bit later next time to see a bit more of the fall foliage. If you haven't ever been to Fort Mountain, we HIGHLY recommend it. It's Toaster approved!