Marla and I took advantage of a beautifully warm fall day to drive up to Evergreen for lunch, about an hour from our house. We chose the Willow Creek Restaurant with a great deck overlooking Evergreen Lake. This is a view of the restaurant from a hiking trail next to the lake.

We made an 11:30 reservation and their courteous mask-wearing staff sat us down at one of their safely spaced tables. Reservations are a must in season. I’m sipping a brew while checking out the menu. It is heavily meat-centric. Marla felt they need vegetable and salad dishes.

My beautiful dining companion.

Evergreen Lake is beautiful in the summer and fall months. In winter it freezes over for ice-skating activities.

We drove west from the lake on Upper Bear Creek Road. It has been years since we’ve been up here and seeing all the multi-million dollar homes was a bit of a surprise.

The road eventually becomes dirt. Fall colors were in full display.

Up the mountain, a little south from where we were driving is “Chateau V”, a 21,000 square foot mansion built on 35 acres to look like the Biltmore Estate.

A video of Chateau V.

The mansion can now be yours for only $12,500,000! The price has been reduced from its original 2016 listing price of $17,500,000. The home has 126 custom-designed chandeliers! Gaudy? Ostentatious? Crazily out of place? You be the judge.

We took a short hike from the parking lot near the Evergreen Nature Center on the southwest side of the lake.

Our real excitement started when we walked back to our car after the hike. We heard screaming and looked at the golf course to see a bull elk! This time of year they can be very dangerous!

Watch this YouTube of happenings a few days later. A bull elk charged a golf cart and gored a golfer! He is lucky he wasn’t more severely hurt!

You might want to let the elk….”play through!”

Photos: Dick Gentry. Not to be used without permission.