Page 14 - Alpine Ranch Online Directory 25

THE MOUNTAIN LAKES RESORT AREA

Mountain Lakes Resort is located in the foothills of The Blue Ridge Mountains six miles west of the
Alpine Village of Helen and is open year-round.

The resort is surrounded by the 750,000 acre
Chattahoochee National Forest and features completely
equipped camping sites, RV sites, cabins, pedestal
cottages, and vacation ownership condominiums on the
banks of Lake Qualatchee. Scheduled activities are
provided by Mountain Lakes Club and include such activities
as hay rides, bingo, horseshoes, volleyball, shuffleboard,
treasure hunts, community campfires, story hour, swimming,
fishing, horseback riding, putt-putt golf, and much more.

Mountain Lakes commands a view of 900,000,000 year old
Yonah Mountain but it is Horserange Mountain that dominates the resort. Horserange Mountain
is two miles long , a mile wide, and three-fifths of a mile high and is home to a vast collection of
wildlife. In a survey of White County in 1980, The U.S. Department of the Interior reported that
mammals here include the bobcat, beaver, red & gray fox, black bear, white tailed deer, river otter,
raccoon, muskrat, eastern chipmunk, coyote, Florida panther, mink, cottontail rabbit, striped skunk,
cougar, woodchuck, longtail weasel, opossum, and short tailed shrew. There are more than 150
species of birds. Some of the cavity-nesting bird who make their permanent homes here are the
wood duck, hooded merganser, peregrine falcon, barn owl, chimney swift, red-bellied woodpecker,
hairy woodpecker, great-crested flycatcher, Carolina chickadee, red-breasted nuthatcher,
bufflehead, black vulture, American kestrel, barred owl, giant pileated woodpecker, yellow-bellied
sapsucker, red-cockaded woodpecker, purple martin, white-breasted nuthatch, brown creeper,
eastern bluebird, southern bald eagle and several varieties of hawks. This area is also rich in wild
turkey.

The Mountain Lakes area is also prized for its collection of rare wildflowers
including mountain orchids, oconee bells, trillium persistens, Turk’s cap lily,
Indian paint brush, dwarf trillium, golden seal, Venus hair fern, creeping
gratiola, pointed trillium, fairy wand, yellow lady’s slipper, Virginia cow slips,
Jacob’s ladder, Barbara’s buttons, Dutchman’s britches, Venus looking
glass, Soloman’s seal, pink eupatorium, fringed polygonella, heart-leafed
skullcap, blazing star, spotted St. John’s, White-topped aster and Star of
Bethlehem.

Nature has provided a paradise here for rock hounds. More than two
hundred gold mines, some of them on Mountain Lakes property were
operated here after the discovery of gold in Dukes Creek in 1828.
Though few commercial gold operations remain in White Country today,
panning for gold is a popular recreation. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources lists
several other valuable minerals in White County including museum-quality amethyst, bright green
opals, microline, transparent apatite, sillimantite, tungsten, pale green and white foliated talc,
tellurobismuthite, chalcopyrite, gelena (lead), pyrite, zinc, copper, tin, silver, and platinum.

Streams famous for their native brown, rainbow, and brook trout tumble into Mountain Lakes Resort
from Pheasant Branch Gap, Slayton Gap, White Oak Gap, Big Gap, Walnut Gap, Double Head
Mountain and Horserange Mountain. Lake Qualatchee is stocked with Bass, Brim, Black Crappie,
and Catfish for avid fishermen.