Combined RA/GA Trip to Bent Tree

April 5, 1997

We planned a special combined RA and GA family outing to Bent Tree and took 27 persons up to Jasper in North Georgia.

This is the combined group at our standard picture location at the top of Buckskull Court, just down the driveway from our house. We were about to hike up Chestnut Cove Trail and then up to the top of Big Stump Mountain. The adult leaders across the back are Rod Nave, David Moore, Johnny Huffman, Mark Reyes, Doyle Wilhite and Derinda Moore.

We started the morning with our traditional pancake breakfast at the church, cooked by Johnny Huffman.

With pancakes and sausage under our belts, we headed out in two vans: our old blue van and a newer tan van.

When we reached Bent Tree, we stopped by our house briefly and then started out on our hike, stopping at the bottomo of the driveway for pictures. Brenda is in this one, haven taken the previous one. Note that the leaves are just coming out in early April in these North Georgia mountains.

We hiked to the top of Chestnut Cove Trail, then right uphill on Thunderstruck. Near the top of that road, we took this photo toward the east. Then we headed up a ridge through the woods to the top of Big Stump mountain at 3000 ft.

This driveway is our observation point at the top of Big Stump Mountain (3000 ft) where we could see Lake Tamarack below us at 1500 ft. We had climbed 600 ft from our house elevation of 2400 ft. We admired the fitness of Doyle Wilhite, who had made this climb with us at age 78!

We started the climb back down the steeper side of the mountain, using an old logging road for the first part. We got other views of the lake on the way. We came slipping and sliding down the steep slope to the back side of our house.

We then made the trip from 2400ft down to the lake at 1500 ft where the ladies, with a little help from the guys, began to prepare lunch.

The guys mostly got involved in a basketball game while the girls went to explore the fishing pier. Even though a sunny day, the water and air were too cool to get in the water.

The little merry-go-round on the playground also saw a lot of activity.

Johnny provides some power for the rotating platform, and everyone was hanging on.

Some wanted to just run and play, and it was great for them to have a little opportunity to do just that.

Luke Balint enjoyed having a little time to sit and play in the creek.

With a variety of activities on this beautiful spring day in the mountains, we felt blessed to see the children in active play and exploration.