The beginning of the trail

First of all, let me introduce myself. I am 30 year old social worker living north of Atlanta (where the Metro meets the Mountains, if you know what I mean). I am married to an insurance man, James, and we have a silly dog named Tennille. We also foster dogs for a local animal welfare organization and currently have a sweet girl named Nova.

As my husband and I both approach our 31st birthdays, we have set a goal for ourselves: to hike the 31 mountains in Georgia higher than 4000 feet in elevation. After spending most of our twenties working 60 hours weeks, it's time for a change. I am fortunately in a position where I don't work on the weekends (as much) anymore and my husband is blessed with a pretty straight 9-5 job. We are also interested in getting in better shape and doing activities we can engage our very active dog in.

We've been lucky enough to live near the Chattahoochee river and National Recreation Area for several years and we always enjoy frequent outings there during the summer, but that has been the extent of our exploration in North Georgia, for the most part.

When I moved to Georgia over 7 years ago, I did excitedly hike as much as I could before starting grad school. Coming from the coast of Florida, living anywhere remotely near mountains was fascinating. But once real life started up, I never got up to the mountains very frequently. 

Strangely enough though, work did play a part in motivating me to get outside and explore. See, after I started working in Cherokee County in late 2014, I began to notice exactly what was around me. I started looking at maps and realized, Ellijay is just a short drive north, then Blue Ridge beyond that. Northwest is the Cohutta Wilderness and Fort Mountain. I was suddenly overwhelmed with the amount of mountains and trails nearby. 

So this blog will be an opportunity for us to document and share our explorations of North Georgia, with our main goal being 31 peaks for our 31 years. My birthday is November 7th and my husband's is December 3- perfect timing to enjoy the fall leaves and work on our goals. 

As for the name of the blog, coincidentally, we all have green daypacks. Papa Bear's is the biggest, Mama Bear's in the middle and Baby Bear even has her own little harness/backpack. So we are a totally cute, matching family on the trail. 

I will leave you with a picture of us from last summer at the Chattahoochee.