Who knew?
By: John Bowen Sentinel Guest Writer

It was a little crowded atop Bell Mountain on Sunday afternoon. About 20 members of the Southern Para Pilots gathered to fly off the landmark knob on parasails and fly across an arm of Lake Chatuge to a field near Lower Bell Creek Road.

A parasail is a steerable parachute that can actually gain altitude if the pilot catches a "thermal". This international group included an Argentine, a German, French people and an Italian. The rest of the group were Americans. They have cleaned up all the litter on the top of the mountain over the past year and cut some trees on the west side to make a launch area.

The attraction of Bell Mountain for them is usually predictable, steady wind, closeness to Atlanta and the ability to drive the equipment off the top.

Too bad, the wind never came last Sunday and no flights were attempted. Fear not, I think they'll be back soon.