A great ride to see dangling ice “fangs” in Rabun County is to take the Germany Mountain Road from Clayton to Wolffork. At the bridge in Germany Valley the road branches left toward Persimmon Valley. Long icicles form on the north side of the mountain along that road in winter.
If one goes back to the bridge and turns up Germany Valley to just before the little white Baptist Church, turn left on the dirt road that goes over the divide and down Billy Branch Road.
My Ggg-grandfather William (Billy) Justice settled in a cove under Billy Mountain and had to widen the Indian trace up from Persimmon to a cove under Billy Mountain. Here he built a house.
The Dickerson family (my grandmother was Lela Dickerson Justus) also settled on Little Creek, on land now covered by an airport. The creek had great brook trout fishing back when I was a boy! A secret gold mine was somewhere in this area, according to sweet Mama Lela, to whom I would bring trout and she would cook me a mid-morning breakfast/lunch. I would be hungry from the tramp over the divide and along the creek and back. Glorious days to grow up in!
Both the road to Persimmon and the Billy Branch Road usually have some snow and ice in winter. Cold air flows through the gaps and forms icicles up to five feet long.
Each winter I try to make at least one long, lonely, cold ride from Clayton to Germany Valley, then to Persimmon Valley and over Davis Gap to Wolffork. I have doubled back on the Billy Branch Road that comes out in Germany Valley a few yards from where I grew up.
Such a ride into the past can touch a tender spot or even cause one’s eyes to water on a cold day.
