A Visit to F.D. Roosevelt State Park

November 17, 2017
Georgia


It wasn't until I was looking for my blog on to show the pictures of F. D. Roosevelt State Park to a visiting friend, that I realized I hadn't written one.  Some weekends I get to go on no adventures, other weekends, I go on two or three.  And I am still catching up on blogs from this summer and early fall. So I'm even more confused than ever.

But one of my early adventures here was to visit this park, since it is only fourteen miles away.  It is on Pine Mountain and at 9,049 acres, is Georgia's largest park. It has forty-two miles of hiking trails.

I loved the climbing, winding road as I left Highway 27 to reach the park.  The first road  I came to led Dowdell's Knob.  I made the turn and shortly was at the Knob.  There I found a statue of President Roosevelt sitting on his car seat.  He loved to come to this location to look over the valley, contemplate live, and even have a picnic.  The grill he used has been cemented up but is still there.

Much of the time I drove the winding, hilly road through a tunnel of trees

The parking area of Dowdell's Knob

I joined President Roosevelt on Dowdell's Knob where he loved to look over  the valley below

I moved closer to the edge and zoomed in to see more of the valley

I took a short hike here on my way home - this area closes really early - and found a site where a plane had crashed. I hope to get in many longer hikes while I'm here. 

This plaque designated the spot and told the story 

Another view into the valley below Dowdell's Knob

Fall was in full flush

These trees edged the large parking lot by the closed swimming pool

The Civilian Conservation Corp built many of the structures in the park.  I'm not sure if they built this overpass.  It reminded of those in Arcadia National Park.

The underpass

Because I turned to look at the underpass, I missed the Visitor Center until after I had seen most of the park.  The road loops around back to the overpass.  But I finally got there and spent time enjoying both the inside and the grounds and sneaking a peak at one of the cottages that were also  built by the CCC.

The imposing Visitor Center was built by the CCC - it is mostly a gift shop

This is the back of one of the cabins for rent  just beyond the visitor center - it had a fantastic view

This clump of leaves caught my eye

This bolder was chipped, showing colors underneath

The view behind the visitor center

This statue was in memory of the CCC builders

One of the camping areas was along a little lake. A road led around to the other side of it where I found more cabins, a little store and canoe rental, and pretty views.

The canoes and a view to another cabin area

Looking back at the campground along the lake. 

This is an interesting little park, both for its history and for the hiking. It also has a swimming pool built by the CCC, but it will not be open while I'm here.

Happy New Year.  Hope you have your plans in place to make sure this year is the best ever.

I'll be celebrating with friends in South Carolina when this posts. So I'm rushing to get scores of purple martin houses clean and ready to their tenants, get packed and work in a visit to a chiropractor before leaving.