Hiking Tumbling Waters at Carters Lake!

We woke up to a little unexpected snow on the ground this morning.

Looking at the weather channel last week, Mum noticed that last Friday was going to be a nice day, and the nicest day of the week. So off we went into town to get a new battery for the car, an oil change and a trip to the grocery, but not before we got in a nice hike at a new place nearby called Tumbling Waters!

Tumbling Waters trail is at the northern side of Carters Lake somewhat south east of Ellijay GA, our nearest town. Carters Lake is actually a man-made reservoir fed by the Coosawattee River and Tails Creek. It's a popular recreation area, and also serves as a flood control device and power source to the area.

We took the Tumbling Waters trail because we love falling waters, dipping our paws in the streams and getting a little swim in some clean fresh water from the mountains. We started off at the trail head and quickly noticed that Gracie wasn't feeling completely up to snuff. She's been off and on ever since she got Lyme and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Some days she feels super, some days she just doesn't have the energy she usually has. And that's why she isn't in any of the photos, Mum just didn't want to stress her out since she wasn't feeling her usual self.

We walked about a mile and came to the bridge over the Tails Creek. Two tails walking over Tails Creek, pretty funny, huh? It was a really nice bridge, very stable which makes Gracie happy.

Here's our view down from the bridge of Tails Creek and the falling waters.

It's somewhat difficult to see, but you can see the upper falls which we hiked to eventually.

It's was gorgeous there, the water was cool, but super fine. I wanted to go for a swim, but Mum thought the water was rushing too quickly, so she let me go in as far as my leash would go, eventually I got a little dog paddle in.

We ventured on and got a few nice photos along the falling waters. 

Oh, I was so ready to jump in there!!!

Hiking back we decided to explore more of the maintenance road area around the lake, armed with our map. After about 3 or so miles, it started to cloud up and get cooler with potential rain, so we decided to head back. Just then Mum saw the boat dock and wanted to see how we would like it.

Well, Gracie, true to her fearful form (on occasion) was having nothing to do with walking down that boat dock, but I couldn't wait to explore it. So Mum hooked Gracie up to the post at the entrance and took me down to explore.

You can tell how happy I am with having to sit here for a photo, when all I really want to do is GO SWIMMING!!!!

But Mum wouldn't let me that day. The water looked really green and she had heard about contamination in that lake, so until she could check it out fully, nope, nope, nope was my answer. DOGGONE IT!

It was a really fun little four mile hike. And just as we got into the car it started to sprinkle. Great timing, huh?

There are more trails around the lake that we're planning on exploring this summer, can't wait!