Sprewell Bluff State Park

Last Sunday the Fayette Photo Club met up with our favorite state park ranger -- Phil -- for another fun and informative hike in a beautiful Georgia State Park.

A little over an hour south we met in the large gravel parking area of Sprewell Bluff State Park. When we arrived the sun was not yet on the parking area. It was chilly and thank goodness I found a pair of gloves in my car. As I stepped out of the car I saw the rock in the middle of the river -- it was so pretty. As I held the camera to take my shot I was shivering so I had to really work on it to keep things still and steady.

The photo above is one of those first shots I took. This photo (and all of the others I took that day) have been processed in Nik Color Efex 3.0 to have the appearance of a photo taken with Fuji Velvia film. This film was known to really bring out the vibrancy of the colors. The colors I saw on Sunday asked for this treatment. Another thing I did to this photo was apply the glow filter to give that bit of morning, misty glow look. I like the finished photo.

Since I had never driven to Sprewell Bluff before, I left home very early. Thank goodness for the time change the previous evening. I had to get up early to get down there -- but at least it was with the break of gaining an hour. I arrived before anyone else. After a few minutes, Ranger Phil pulled into the parking lot. It was nice to see him. He had been our ranger guide for a photo club hike at Panola Mountain last May (see my blog entry of April 12 for info on Panola Mountain State Park).

Another member from photo club rode to the park with me -- so the three of us waited in the parking lot for more members to arrive. They came and we waited a little bit more to make sure that all who were coming had made it.

When we walked toward the trail we could see the red and yellow leaves backlit by the bright sun. The prettiest color seemed to be the black gum trees in a brilliant, bright red. Phil pointed out the trees with the color and told us the names of them. He also pointed out the grasses heavy with seed pods along the path. The sparkleberry trees were a beautiful burgundy red with dark purple berries all over them.

One of the best things about going on a hike with a ranger is that when they hear a bird or other sound from the forest -- they tell you what you are hearing. Phil pointed out to us the sounds of an Eastern Phoebe (and we saw a couple E. Phoebe nests) and a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker. Once I heard a sound I was sure was a Cardinal -- so I asked Phil if that is what we were hearing -- he said no. We were actually hearing a chipmunk!

The large rock formations that we saw while on the hike were amazing. It was interesting to get the information from Phil on the geology of the region and to hear about the types of rock we were looking at.

This is a great time of year to get out to a park near (and maybe not so near you). Check out the Georgia State Park website (http://www.gastateparks.org/) to find out about scheduled events or just to check the leaf report -- this is a great website to keep handy.