Bell Mountain, Fields of the Wood

My parents were at their place in Hiawassee this Summer and we went up a few times, but this time we decided to go on some adventures while we were there.

One of the places we visited was the Top of Bell Mountain.
My (Dad's) family lived on Bell Creek road since the early 1900's, so I grew up spending many of my Summers running the roads and mountains, including the Bell.

Bell Mountain as seen from my Dad's back yard/fruit orchard

 We'd gone up the Bell back in 2014, before there was any idea of a park (that we knew of anyway). The road was rough, steep, rocky. There were huge ditches and gullys from the 4x4 mudding vehicles.
We ended up parking the car some ways back and walking the rest of the way to the top.

At the top was something of a level area, then two large hills.
The below pic is me standing on one of the hills, looking at the other hill and lower level area.

In 2016, the road all the way up is paved, the lower level area is a parking lot, and there's steps up the hill I was standing on in the previous picture leading to an overlook.

The other hill is still the same as it was before. My Mom and Ryan climbed right on to the top of it like billy goats.

After there, we drove over to Murphy, NC to visit Fields of the Wood Bible Park. 
Grannie used to take us there, and John and the kids went once, many years ago. Mom said she had never been.

Mountainside Ten Commandments

Thirty-foot tall Bible

This park is so beautiful and serene.