Pigeon Mountain, GA / Pocket Wilderness

Inspiration took hold of me this morning, or perhaps it was envy, after listening to stories of family and friends having romped with abandon in the abundant snowfall which slammed this part of the Southeast from Nashville to No. Georgia. Because temperatures today were far above freezing, the snow pack wet and soft, these conditions spurred a trip to the Pocket Wilderness for an exploration of the 8.4 mile Pocket Loop. I went without the expectation of necessarily completing the whole hike, but more to see whether I could even reach the parking lot in my ’99 Honda Civic. No problem!

What a glorious approach to Pigeon Mountain with its double peaks (No. Pocket and So. Pocket) shimmering white in the blue sky and sunshine. I had never seen a snow-covered mountain sparkle the way and it seemed to me I was going to experience something new. The initial 0.3 from the parking lot was steep, although the snow hardly covered the gated road leading to an impressive waterfall to the right with stone cliffs to my left. There were actually two flumes today dropping from the creek bed above. This creek is intersected by the trail about 0.1 from the falls, normally my choice for a finale after starting a hike from the other end of the loop, but I decided to head upward into the area known as the So. Pocket for a more strenuous approach knowing I was only here to hike for a short while and carrying no food or water. The trail was easy to walk, sometimes lacking snow at the very center, not because of footfalls, but having evaporated naturally. At other times, a layer of ice created a vulnerable crust over the inch or so of snow making for decent traction. I followed a single set of tracks (human) for about 200 yards upward before it became apparent to me that nobody had walked much further during this particular snow and that it would be my privilege.

As I kept on, I witnessed the most extraordinary conditions, bare tree limbs and all tree branches were covered with glassy ice, the heavy snow from Friday having melted and re-frozen a day later, forming clear and solid drippings like candle wax all throughout the forest. Not only that, but the sunshine was at a perfect angle, early afternoon about 1 PM EST, and refracting on all these icy surfaces creating spirals of rainbows as I walked. It was quite spectacular! I continued along the trail for about forty-five minutes or so, growing warmer in my winter layers, then decided to turn around before I was able to convince myself to walk the whole loop. H2O was plentiful...I probably could have made it all the way around. Just glad I decided to take a walk on the last day of January 2010.