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Autumn Leaves in Georgia

 A long weekend in Georgia and North Carolina...  

Over the Columbus Day weekend, weather was not the best but we wanted to see the leaves change in the mountains.   The Blue Ridge Scenic Railway offers an up-and-back train ride from Blue Ridge, Georgia into Copperhill, Tennessee along the Toccoa River.  

But first...

  Mercier Orchard 

A stop at the tourist trap orchard for a "few" apple things,  cider, hard cider, donuts...  etc..   Almost along the way, but just enough delay to make us run to catch the train.

Tourist trap?  not too much although it was busy.  Parking was a bit of a challenge, but "those people up front leave too"...  and after a short visit to a number of what used to be barn buildings, we make our selections and headed to Blue Ridge to catch the train.

  Blue Ridge Scenic Railway  
The main driver behind camping in North Georgia was to see the fall leaves..  Pam found a train ride that would take us on open-air cars in a round trip of twenty-six miles...  and included a stop that straddled the Tennessee and Georgia state line...  As it happened we were in the car that sat right on top of the state line when we stopped in Copperhill TN.   We took the round trip ride for two hours that did not stop in Copperhill for a two hour layover to shop and eat in the local town...

  We got to the train in just enough time to get aboard and get seated.   Parking in Blue Ridge for the train ride is all on the streets... and a couple of parking lots...    After looking around for a while we picked a lot and parked...  


The train trip was on open cars, and felt a bit safer during the COVID pandemic.  Wearing our face masks made the trip more comfortable because the mask shielded us not just from the virus but also from the cool, misty, cloudy weather...   The train followed the Toccoa river through Georgia...   In Georgia, the river is the Toccoa River. and in Tennessee the river becomes the Ocoee River. 





  Dam Sunday  
On Sunday, the weather was still threatening...  cloudy, rainy...  not a good day to be outside for any long period of time...  
No hiking today!...  Let's go look at some of the local TVA dams...
We were camping at the RV River Resort in Marble NC.  a close distance to three TVA dams on rivers that feed the Tennessee River. First was the Hiwassee Dam on the Hiwassee River, completed in 1940.

  Hiwassee Dam  

Each of these dams were built for a combination of flood control, electrical generation and for river navigation.
Large (43 tons at Hiwassee) turbines are rotated by water flow through the dam and are connected to generators to produce electricity.
Above the dam the backed-up river becomes a great lake for recreation as well...
The mountains off in the distance are surrounded by low hanging clouds that were everywhere.  It seemed like every time we stopped to get out and explore,  it rained!!!!
A travelling crane runs across the top of the dam and is used to maintain the upper flood gates...  on the Hiwassee the road goes across the top of the dam an you drive underneath the crane...  A spillway overflows if the river ever gets too high.  

  Nottely Dam  

The Nottely Dam was the first earthen dam of the day...   Much longer than the Hiwassee Dam at almost a half-mile long, a water intake tower is on the upstream side of the dam.  Water from the intake passes through a conduit to the power plant.

The Nottely Dam is on the Nottely River feeding the Hiwassee River.  Built initially as a flood control dam and completed in 1942.  A power plant was added later in the 1950's.


  Blue Ridge Dam  

The Blue Ridge Dam sits not far from the town/city of Blue Ridge GA.  (remember the train ride?).
This dam is the first dam on the Toccoa / Ocoee River above the Ocoee dams (another trip!) upstream of where the Ocoee and Hiwassee Rivers flow into the Tennessee River.
The Blue Ridge Dam is one of a number of TVA dams that use various techniques to inject air or oxygen into the water to aid the growth and health of wildlife in the river system.
If you look carefully at the right edge of the picture above, you can see slight ripples on the water surface above the oxygen hoses on the lake bottom.   The same ripples are visible on the last Nottely Dam picture above.




The Blue Ridge Dam has a spillway somewhat separated from the main dam...  

And was built from 1925-1931...  almost 100 years ago!!!





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