# Lake Conasauga



## Etoncathunter (Aug 19, 2015)

Well it looks like the weather, and schedules have finally decided to cooperate. I'm taking my family camping for the first time in almost 2 years. We are heading up to Lake Conasauga for Friday and Saturday nights. Our last trip had been to Fort Mountain and we had a great time even though we only stayed 1 night then. I'm just not looking forward to the repeated drives up the mountain. I have to work till 1am, then my son and I are going up first thing in the morning so we can get a good spot before they are all taken. Then we have to drive all the way back down to pick up my wife when she gets off work, and then head back up. All that driving will get old, but I hope the rest of the weekend is worth it.


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## Bob Shaw (Aug 20, 2015)

That's a fun drive, that's for sure. When we stayed there, we would drive over to Fort Mountain to shower. If I remember, there's two sections to the camping area an improved area with tent pads and a more rustic "back country" area over to the left, near the trail to the fire tower. We used to stay there in a pop-up, and getting the pop-up up that road with a station wagon was interesting, to say the least.


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## Etoncathunter (Aug 21, 2015)

Yeah I can imagine it would be fun pulling a trailer up there.


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## blood on the ground (Aug 21, 2015)

Its awesome up there! me and my family were up there last weekend and the temp never got out of the 60s in the day time! we also made the drive all the way through from Blue Ridge to Eton (hwy 411) that's a lot of dirt road!!!


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## westcobbdog (Aug 21, 2015)

the forestry service road i took in around 4 years ago was the roughest I had seen. Campground nice, lake loud at night with 1 million frogs croaking at once. Still want to hike up grassy Mtn I think it is to the forestry service tower up there.


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## Bob Shaw (Aug 21, 2015)

There's two ways to get from the campground to the fire tower. There's the rather circuitous trail. which is really a nice hike, and then there's the road. You can't, or couldn't, go up to the top of the fire tower, but you could go most way up the stairs.

Etoncathunter, that road up there is the reason I bought a 4-wheel drive, and then only went up there once after I got it. I've got a 40' 5th wheel now, so, camping there is no longer an option.


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## Etoncathunter (Aug 25, 2015)

Well we had a great time up there. Turns out I was worried and rushed to get up there for an early spot for nothing. I over slept and we didn't get there till noon on Friday and we were the only ones there at the time. After getting camp set up my son and I came back down to pick up my wife and by time we got back to camp at 6 there was only 3 sites being used counting us. My son had a great time, going up the 1st time he got to see a flock of turkeys at the check in station, and then coming back from getting his mother we had a bear standing in the middle of the road between Barnes creek falls and the over look. They took a walk around the lake and explored while I grilled us some taters and steaks. Afterwords my wife wanted to strangle me because she didn't realize how far it was around the lake before they took off. 

The second day was wonderful, we just sat around and relaxed most of the day. We explored a little, went swimming, played some board games, and just generally enjoyed the day. They got to do a little fishing and caught about a dozen bluegill. The bait was thanks to a nice lady my son made friends with. He saw her fishing and went to watch/talk to her. Somehow he mentioned that his forgetful daddy had been in too much of a hurry the day before and forgot to buy bait.  He walked away with a sinker pack full of worms. I doubt she's on here but if she is, thanks you made his day. 

The trip ended on a less than stellar note though when storms rolled in about 11pm Saturday night. My wife forgot to roll up the window on her side of the tent and woke up in the middle of the night in a soaked sleeping bag. It was still pouring the next morning when we decided to skip breakfast and break camp and head home. All in all though we had a great time and can't wait to go again. Just maybe next time to a place with cell service so we don't get surprised by weather changes.


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## Etoncathunter (Aug 25, 2015)

more pics


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## Bob Shaw (Aug 28, 2015)

Glad you had a great time. That's a neat place. We used to like to go there when it was too hot at the lower elevations. Never did swim in the lake though, I thought it was kinda cold.


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## Canis latrans (Aug 28, 2015)

Yes, that lake is pretty cold - even in July or August.  I love camping there.  It's a fun lake to fish, and there is some good hiking around there.

Two times I have been there, severe t-storms came up.  The storms weren't above us.  We were literally right inside the storms.  That made for some pretty scary camping one time.


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## Etoncathunter (Aug 28, 2015)

Bob Shaw said:


> Glad you had a great time. That's a neat place. We used to like to go there when it was too hot at the lower elevations. Never did swim in the lake though, I thought it was kinda cold.



Yeah the temp is why we chose there. We'd went to Ft Mtn this same time 2 years ago and barely got any sleep cause it was so hot. I figured why not try the highest elevation lake in Ga. It was about 15 degree cooler than down here at the base.




Canis latrans said:


> Yes, that lake is pretty cold - even in July or August.  I love camping there.  It's a fun lake to fish, and there is some good hiking around there.
> 
> Two times I have been there, severe t-storms came up.  The storms weren't above us.  We were literally right inside the storms.  That made for some pretty scary camping one time.



That you are, right smack dab in the middle. I've been caught in a few bad ones up there fishing and hunting, and it is enough to make the pucker factor increase by a factor of 10.


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## Canis latrans (Aug 28, 2015)

One other time I took my daughter up there, when we were driving back down, I noticed that we were above the clouds.  All we could see was mountain peaks and the tops of solid cloud cover.  No valleys, towns or highways could be seen.  That was a very cool thing to see.


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## tsharp (Sep 7, 2015)

Thanks For sharing, love the pictures!


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