Hiking area around Track Rock

[Cullen Bohannon]

I've been exploring this area for a good while. Still trying to locate the dormant fumarole (volcano vent), and in about 10 trips, still haven't found it yet, based on descriptions and maps I've found on the internet.

Anyone ever found the fumarole? If so, would you please send me somewhat of a description of the location in a PM? I've been all over the old village site, up to the cliffs, and covered many, many miles, bushwhacking.

 

[northgeorgiasportsman]

I think you are the victim of false internet information. This region isn't exactly volcanic.

 

[660griz]

Map.
http://www.examiner.com/slideshow/hiking-1200-years-into-the-past#slide=1

From article.
Employees of the United States Forest Service recently cut down over a hundred trees within a large archaeological zone to block a trail, long utilized by hikers to view an ancient volcanic vent hole and the massive Native American town site. This was apparently the agency’s "knee jerk" response to a nationally televised program on the Travel Channel, which praised the beauty and cultural significance of Track Rock Gap in Georgia.

 

[Cullen Bohannon]

Yep, that is exactly the area on that map where I was looking, among others. I found nothing around there. What I am asking is for a more specific location from someone who has actually been there.

Actually, I found many of ruins by accident. Then I ran into some guys in the parking lot, as I was returning from my hike. They asked if I was at the site, I told them what I had seen, they told me about the cut trees, and then I went home and researched it.

BTW, the Forest Service cut down trees all over the place in the area, to block old dirt roads. And there are ancient rock piles and rocks walls all over the place in the area, even as far as 10 miles away. There is a whole lot more to the story than just a dozen petroglyphed boulders by the road at Track Rock.

 

[northgeorgiasportsman]

You would think if so many people have been to see it maybe you could find a picture of it online...

 

[Cullen Bohannon]

You would think if so many people have been to see it maybe you could find a picture of it online...

Yep - I searched and searched, using all kinds of keywords, and found nothing.

 

[northgeorgiasportsman]

Yep - I searched and searched, using all kinds of keywords, and found nothing.

Because it doesn't exist.

And to further burst your bubble, all those stacked stone walls were built within the last 150 years by local farmers who grew corn there as late as the 1920s.

 

[Cullen Bohannon]

I was thinking either that, or from the corundum mining that did go on in the area. Plus, the guy that lives across the road from the petroglyphs told me that many of the petroglyphs were made by white kids many years ago. So, the whole Track Rock thing may be a complete hoax. I have yet to find any other petroglyphs in the "village" area, on boulders.

 

[northgeorgiasportsman]

That old guy is my great uncle.

 

[Cullen Bohannon]

That old guy is my great uncle.

So, you carved some of those petroglyphs, just to get money for new shoes so you could walk to school? lol

Just kidding about that, but your great uncle did holler across the road about that being how many of the carvings got there.

 

[northgeorgiasportsman]

I think the original carvings are legit. There have been modern additions, no doubt some by mischievous local youths. But there has never been any evidence of a village complex. That is the product of an overactive imagination and a lot of copy and paste articles on the internet.

Don't get me wrong, it's exciting to think about... but it's a falsehood.

 

[Cullen Bohannon]

Know anything about the supposed old ruby mine across the road, on the same side as the carvings? After a bunch of searching, I did find a collapsed horizontal shaft, then an old furnace type thing nearby (it looked like a very short chimney, and most definitely not a collapsed house chimney).

I also found a whole bunch of rock piles and walls over that way too. I was beginning to think the piles and walls may have been the result of ruby and corundum mining, as in the piles being the rocks that didn't contain what they were looking for.

Somebody sure spent a whole lot of time carrying and stacking rocks all around the area. Those piles are everywhere!

 

[northgeorgiasportsman]

Not sure about a furnace, but there was once a steam engine that (I seem to recall) powered a saw mill. The boiler blew up and killed a man. I've seen pieces of the boiler.

As far as the rock piles go, its VERY rocky as I'm sure you've noticed. Farmers picked them up out of their fields and stacked them in rows. What is standing in hardwood timber today was somebody's cornfield 100 years ago. Long rock walls like that can be found all over the woods around here.

 

[Cullen Bohannon]

I did notice that most of the online articles about the supposed village near Track Rock were cut & pasted, as they all said the same thing. Lots of speculation about the supposed village being Mayan, and how parts of it aligned with parts of the Etowah Indian Mounds, etc.

Who knows - the rock wall on Fort Mtn may not be Indian at all. Maybe just some folks a long time ago making a mountain top usable to them, and doing something constructive with all of the rocks.

I do find all of this stuff very fascinating and fun to investigate.

 

[Cullen Bohannon]

I did notice that most of the online articles about the supposed village near Track Rock were cut & pasted, as they all said the same thing. Lots of speculation about the supposed village being Mayan, and how parts of it aligned with parts of the Etowah Indian Mounds, etc.

Who knows - the rock wall on Fort Mtn may not be Indian at all. Maybe just some folks a long time ago making a mountain top usable to them, and doing something constructive with all of the rocks.

I do find all of this stuff very fascinating and fun to investigate.

 

[northgeorgiasportsman]

The guy that claimed so many parallels with Mayan civilization is just plain crazy. That's irresponsible archaeology at best. Mark Williams, one of my professors at UGA and head of the archaeology department, totally debunked that theory as pretty much hogwash. Problem is, there are a lot of kooks out there that jump on that bandwagon and propagate the myth. That website peopleofonefire is just such a group of quacks. Total nonsense.

 

[Cullen Bohannon]

Enough sheeple believed that stuff and converged on the area in 2012 (as I understand it), that the USFS deemed it necessary to cut down tons of trees to block the old dirt roads in the area (and many others, all over the county). The cutting part I could definitely confirm first-hand. Lots and lots of trees laying across the old roads, and gee whiz - they just happened to be cut down with chainsaws.

 

[660griz]

Mayan connection? I could care less. Ancient protected indian grounds? Probably. Dormant fumarole present? Probably. There was volcanic activity in Georgia at one time. Folks flocked there because of their silly Mayan superstitions related to the calendar and end of times, etc. Not because of an extinct volcano hole.

 

[northgeorgiasportsman]

I've lived within a stone's throw of this place my whole life. My family has owned properties on both sides of the gap where the petroglyphs are located. I've hiked, camped, and hunted all over the place, and I've never once heard any mention of a dormant volcano fume role.

 

[Brady Essary]

I've been in touch with the person who has written many of the articles about this place...I won't mention his name, although anyone who's done even a small amount of research will know who I'm referring to. I asked him if he had gps coordinates of the fumarole since he shows it on the map he created, but he said he doesn't. I find that hard to believe.

Brasstown Bald is reported to be the actual ancient volcano, so if that is true, it stands to reason that a fumarole could very well have existed. I read somewhere recently that the fumarole was actually active until sometime during the 1800's when an earthquake somehow made it stop belching gas...no pun intended.

I have wanted to search for the fumarole, if it does exist, but without knowing exactly where it's supposed to be, I don't want to take a chance on getting turned around by basically blindly walking around up there, off trail. Granted, a compass and hiking app's that are gps enabled definitely help in that regard.

I did find a YouTube video where the guy thinks he found the fumarole, but I don't think so. Granted, I don't know exactly what it's supposed to look like, but it just didn't look believeable.