Since childhood the phrase “on the Blue Ridge” has echoed through my life from the voices of my grandfather and father. The reference is not to a town, or even the entire Blue Ridge mountian range. “On the Blue Ridge” refers to the Blue Ridge Wildlife Management Area located within the Chattahoochee National Forest in north Georgia. Roughly, it is the mountians separating Ellijay and Daholonega, Georgia. The Blue Ridge WMA has many notable features and is home to Springer Mountain- terminus of the Appalachain Trail, the Benton Mackaye Trail, Bull Mountian MTB trails, Jake Mtn. horse trails, Camp Wasega 4H camp, the army’s Mountain Ranger Camp-Camp Merril, as well as a host of natural treasure. The size of the WMA has recently beed reduced due to federal funding cutbacks. This is on one of the major at-risk areas for abuse and overuse as urban sprawl steadily creaps northward from Atlanta.
Even today, my father, still very much motivated to find those perfect turkey hunting grounds will end most conversations with… “see ya on the Blue Ridge.” This is a collection of photographs from various locations “On the Blue Ridge.”
