To me, one of the most remarkably beautiful drives in Georgia — and the entire Southeast — is the Richard B. Russell Scenic Highway, which runs 14 miles through the Chattahoochee National Forest in North Georgia and offers some of the most breathtaking mountain scenery you’ll find anywhere.
In any season, the unspoiled views of mountain vistas and distant peaks from the highway’s several turnouts are outstanding.
In autumn, when oaks, maples, hickories and other hardwoods covering the mountain slopes are ablaze with color, the views can be spectacular. In winter, when the trees are devoid of leaves, the grays of mountain vistas merge into a somber and peaceful landscape that can be a special kind of splendor.
That was true last weekend when my wife and I drove the highway (Georgia 348) from its start near Smithgall Woods State Park in White County to its intersection with Georgia 180 in Union County.
At the higher elevations, snow and ice from a recent snowstorm still covered the roadside and the forest floor — an extra touch of winter beauty, but which did not impede driving.
Perhaps the most incredible sight on our winter drive was an icy feature at the highway’s midway point, Hogpen Gap (elevation 3,485 feet). There, sheer granite cliffs, nearly 60 feet high and stretching hundreds of feet along the highway, were covered with huge icicles and thick ice sheets resembling a glacier.
The ice-covered cliffs, we learned, are popular with “ice climbers,” who flock to Hogpen Gap in winter to practice their mountaineering skills.
At another point, we took a short walk along sparkling Dukes Creek, whose clear, pristine water seemed to glow with a golden hue from winter sunrays streaming in through the bare tree limbs.
Along the way, we also examined the curled-up evergreen leaves of rhododendrons. The curling is a natural reaction to cold temperatures. Old-timers say you can tell the temperature in winter from the extent of leaf-curling in rhododendrons.
IN THE SKY: From David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer: The moon will be new on Monday. By Wednesday, look for a thin crescent low in the west, just after dark. Mercury is in the east just before sunrise. Venus rises out of the east about two hours before sunrise. Mars rises out of the east about midnight. Jupiter rises out of the east before a few hours after dark. Saturn rises out of the east just after midnight.
About the Author
