Dauset Trail to Indian Springs (Butts County, Georgia)

Today, I joined one of the local hiking Meetups to explore the Dauset Trail an hour or so south of Atlanta. The trail begins at a nature preserve and continues to Indian Springs State Park. As I make my drive down towards the trail head to meet the group, there is a light rain coming down and it continues once we begin congregating. At least it will keep today's miles on the cooler side. After a quick round of introductions, we head into the woods on some very well maintained trails.

There isn't much elevation gain as we follow the trail northwest towards the park, and it's pretty easy going. We are able to maintain a brisk and steady pace. After a couple of miles, the trail starts to run beside Long Branch Creek and then eventually, the shoreline of Chief MacIntosh Lake, which sits inside the park boundary.

Leaving the woods, we cross an old cobblestone bridge for a great view of the Big Sandy Creek, which feeds the lake. Taking advantage of the park's facilities, we take a short rest near the structure build around the spring itself. Apparently, this is one of the oldest parks in the state of Georgia and even before that the mineral waters coming from the spring were thought to have curative effects, inspiring many to visit and bath here. Even today, there are families bottling water from the spring to take home. A stone structure and spigot system within have been built to help facilitate the collection of this spring water. 

After resting a few minutes and enjoying an energizing snack (a fig bar and some artichoke hearts for me), we return nearly the way we came. The return trip is mostly uneventful, but as always the conversation is excellent. At one point, we cross the creek to see the largest crayfish I've ever encountered crawling through the clear flowing waters. This little guy looks to be nearly seven inches long. 

Finally returning to the parking lot, I see that I've logged about 10.1 miles on these easy trails today. Not a bad way to spend an early autumn Saturday. I say my farewells and head for home.