Talona Mountain:
Standing 2,000 feet above sea level, and just a couple miles off of Georgia's north highway 5, the summit of Talona Mountain is one of the most picture-perfect and easily accessible overlooks you will find in the state, sharing a breathtaking likeness and direction to the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, with scenic hills and highways leading you through the historic, "Pathway to the Smokies". Although I've seen many overlooks and summits throughout the blue ridge mountains and parked many times at sites like Clingman's Dome, there is something truly special about Talona's peaceful peak. With few other visitors in sight, it's likely one of the best places in Ellijay to start your morning awestruck by the nearly 180-degree view of the mountains all around you.
One of the best parts of this overlook is its diamond in the rough locale and seemingly accidental placement, as it sits surrounded by telephone lines, cell towers, and satellite dishes sitting right in the middle of its single roundabout "parking lot". Although I found no competition for space at the summit, a large number of visitors would not find the peak very comfortable, as it can only park about ten cars before filling into the slough of neighborhoods just below, but even during a surge, I would park where I could and wait for my turn to see a sunrise like this mornings again.
With perfect, sixty-degree weather and a beautifully reflective stone cross, I almost felt as if I was back home in New England as I watched the morning fog roll over a sea of never-ending hills. The amount of fog visible this morning, and truly ridiculous colors of the sunrise very closely rivaled the view you'd see along the Foothills Parkway in Tennessee, and if I didn't have the time for yet another Smokies trip, this view would do the trick for at least another couple weeks.
As this summit is so small and so easy to see through pictures, this is all I have to say on it this morning. I hope you'll make the drive to Talona Mountain yourself sometime soon when the weather is just as perfect as it is right now, although I'd imagine the first morning light shimmering over all the red and orange leaves in just another month or so would look even better than today.
One of the best parts of this overlook is its diamond in the rough locale and seemingly accidental placement, as it sits surrounded by telephone lines, cell towers, and satellite dishes sitting right in the middle of its single roundabout "parking lot". Although I found no competition for space at the summit, a large number of visitors would not find the peak very comfortable, as it can only park about ten cars before filling into the slough of neighborhoods just below, but even during a surge, I would park where I could and wait for my turn to see a sunrise like this mornings again.
With perfect, sixty-degree weather and a beautifully reflective stone cross, I almost felt as if I was back home in New England as I watched the morning fog roll over a sea of never-ending hills. The amount of fog visible this morning, and truly ridiculous colors of the sunrise very closely rivaled the view you'd see along the Foothills Parkway in Tennessee, and if I didn't have the time for yet another Smokies trip, this view would do the trick for at least another couple weeks.
As this summit is so small and so easy to see through pictures, this is all I have to say on it this morning. I hope you'll make the drive to Talona Mountain yourself sometime soon when the weather is just as perfect as it is right now, although I'd imagine the first morning light shimmering over all the red and orange leaves in just another month or so would look even better than today.