Mount Yonah Sunset Hike (White County, Georgia)

 

With so many trails in the world to explore, I'm not generally one who revisits trails very often. That said, some of the members of the Meetup group had suggested doing a sunset hike to the summit of Mount Yonah, which boasts one of the most beautiful views of dusk in the area. I've hiked up Yonah before, shortly after moving to Georgia, but this sounded like a unique way to revisit and catch a beautiful sunset in the process. I agreed to organize and lead a group up late this afternoon.

I warned the participants that while this was a short trail, it was pretty steep in sections and that we would obviously be returning after dark and so they should ensure they were carrying a light source in the their pack. Meeting up with the group shortly before the designated 6:30 PM start time, I reminded them about having a head-lamp or flashlight. It seems everyone heeded my advice. After a quick round of introductions, we started up the steep western slope of Mount Yonah. 

We were able to maintain a pretty good pace as we followed the switchbacks up to the summit. There seemed to be a larger-than-normal squirrel population observing our progress. On the way up, I had the opportunity to chat with several of the participants, including the one of the teenage sons of one of the other hikers. The young man was interested in visiting all of the US states and all of the National Parks. While I haven't quite accomplished either yet, they are both goals of mine, which I have made significant progress on over the last few years. We had plenty to talk about and he seems an intelligent young man with great aspirations. 

As we reached the summit, we located a good spot to watch our weening star as it made it's daily break for the western horizon. The sky is clear of clouds and the view is magnificent. As the sun drops lower and lower, the color palate passes through different shades of orange and read until finally, darkness. Of course up here, the temperature begins to dip almost immediately when the sunsets. Everyone added an additional layer and we started our trip back down the mountain, headlamps and solar lanterns ablaze. 

While it's always important to watch foot placement carefully in the dark, it's even more critical one some of the small scramble sections, which this steep trail has a few of. Without incident though, we were able to reach the trailhead. A few of us had discussed stopping at a local brewery for a post-hike adult beverage and after completing our short 4.7 mile hike, we did just that.