hiking season

Today, Michele and I drove to Dillon, GA to hike a section of Bartram trail which leads to Rabun Bald.  We read about it on the internet.   It is apparently the second highest peak in Georgia.  The day started beautifully with a cup of Irish breakfast tea at Michele's.  We departed Jasper at 8:30 a.m. and drove northeast toward Ellijay, Blue Ridge, Young Harris, Clayton and finally, Dillon.  We quickly ducked in and out of North Carolina for a few miles too.  Our directions were flawless until the final leg of the trip.  The website directed us to turn onto Hale Ridge Road, but it was nowhere to be found.  We turned around (the first of many) and visited a local gas station/ trout steamer place.  Inside the station, we met "Squeakie".  That is seriously what her name tag read.  Squeakie told us to turn onto Bald - something, I can't remember the name - but that was the name of the second turn we were hunting.  We trusted Squeakie.  She seemed pretty reliable.  I should probably also mention that while walking into the station we noticed a golf cart parked outside with a rifle on the seat, thus reminding us that even though the towns grew increasingly "cool" the further we drove from Jasper, we were in fact still in the North Georgia hills.  Eventually, after about an hour of hunting "Park Service Road #7", we found what we were looking for.  The trail was 4.2 miles from trailhead to summit.  The first 2.7 miles were pretty boring, but the last 1.5 miles were beautiful and challenging.  The top had a cool, but weird wooden structure.  It looked like a deck on stilts.  We climbed to the top, snapped some pics and dined on the best trail food I've ever had.  It was a perfect day for a hike - cool and sunny.  And now my body is rejecting the simple task of walking...