Vickery Creek Trail (Fulton County, Georgia)

My final hike of the day is also along one of the tributaries to the Chattahoochee River. This one is called Vickery Creek. Getting to the trailhead just before noon, I luckily snag the final open parking spot. Apparently, this is a popular area. The trail departs the parking lot and follows the large creek for a ways. A side trail heads up to the steep hill to a parallel trail at the top of the ridge. I opt to hang by the river for now.

The trail passes through some thick brush, which has been conveniently carved to allow passage, before arriving at a short cliff above the creek. I'm assured by my map that the trail passes this way, but bouldering around the cliff a little ways, I'm not convinced that the map is marked correctly. It might be passable beyond, but I can't see around the next bend and I with the cold creek flowing a couple of dozen feet below me, I decide to turn back and head up the side trail I had passed a short time before.

Once I reach the top of the ridge, the trail is about as easy as could be for the next little while. I pass a number of trail intersections, but I have a pretty good line on the route I want to take. After a short switchback, I am once again above the creek and in the distance I can hear either rapids or a waterfall.

It turns out, there is a covered bridge crossing the creek here and staircase has been constructed down to it and to the creek below. I decide to check out this little detour. Finding myself at the water's edge, the natural stone of this area provides a short waterfall and the accompanying rapids just below the bridge. It's actually quite pretty.

After returning to the top of the ridge, I continue on the trail and circle around the park. Now finding myself at above another larger waterfall, I scramble my way down the muddy embankment to get a good view. It turns out this waterfall is actually man-made, as attested to by the stone wall behind the spray of water. Apparently, this was constructed as a dam at some point in the past. While it is visually pleasant, I really hate seeing so much development here. I would love to see more of nature left alone.

Moving on around the top of this plateau, I encounter a number of other side trails, but eventually make my way back to the jeep. This little hike added on about 4.1 miles to my total for the day. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday and if the rains continue to hold, I may even get some more hiking in tomorrow; we'll see.