I found a ghost town on the internet. It was also only an hour away. I was really excited to go explore and hike around this remote area and find some ruins and Indian mounds. I texted my old urban exploring buddy to see if he was free. He also was excited to go and find this place. We even managed to get my men out of the house for this excursion. My son was not as excited when he heard we were going to a ghost town. He was all "no way" and "I'm not going" until I explained all that meant was basically some old buildings and no ghosts. We all had high hopes.

Sadly this was the highlight of the ruins

There was a sign with a map to some trails and pointed to other buildings but the trails were non-existent

We found a pretty cool bridge and what little was left of the mill

We headed over to the river and found what was left of a fort.

We found all kinds of animal tracks and wood pecker holes

We couldn't believe this was all that was left. We walked back over to the map and tried to figure out where some of the other things could have been. The boys spotted a wooden bridge and we decided to go trek through the woods past it to see if we could find anything else.

My son was determined to keep up with Jerimy.

What we did find was some really cool vines that had grown so large they were almost as big as trees.

The we spotted a well and what was left of a house.

These brick date back to 1793

Lots of muddy shoes later and disappointed we headed back to the car to see if we could find the other trail to the Indian mounds.

We found this horse trail on a map that said there were mounds along side of it.

What we did find was a lot of weird fungi everywhere and a trail that really only is suited for horses.

Lots of creek crossings.

This area is also heavily hunted. It took several miles of gravel roads to get here and the only people we saw were in camo that we drove past on the way in. Lots of gun shots ringing in the distance.

And their remnants.

We never did find those Indian mounds but we did find this tree split in half. That was the highlight of the trip. We found another sign a few miles down the road and managed to get enough of a signal to look at the GPS to find another trail that could have lead us to the mounds but after finding the road itself that lead there, it was closed by a locked gate, complete with .22 bullet holes shot into the sign. It was at least a mile hike from there to the trail head and not sure how long from there. We were short on time so we decided to go eat instead.

This too led to more disappointment. The hole in the wall bar Chips was our first choice. I had not been there in over 15 years and none of the boys had ever been to the biker bar, but sadly it is now 21 and over only so little man could not come in. It used to be kids were welcome for lunch and I remembered it having some good burgers back when I lived in the area. Next up was Fatz cafe. I passed it a few time on the rare occasion I went to Barrow County. The worst bloody Mary ever and the food was mediocre at best. So all in all not a win for adventure or food but I managed to spend time with my friend and my loves, get some excercise and found a good spot to paddle the Oconee River when it gets warmer.