I hiked the East Palisades trail several months ago, shortly after moving to Atlanta. However, I was unable to find the famous bamboo forest that is supposedly nearby. That was a little disappointing as it was an appealing feature that I was very interested to see. When one of the local Meetup groups scheduled another visit to this area, including a trip to the bamboo forest, I decided to revisit this trail and find that which had escaped me before.
It seems parking is always a problem at any of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area units, and today is no exception. When I arrive, the lot is completely full and several cars are just waiting for a spot to open up. As the group start time is approaching, I decide to head back out to the main road and find parking there, which results in another 1/3rd of a mile walk, but I need the exercise. Finally, meeting up with the group, we do our standard quick round of introductions before heading out.
The trails here are well maintained, but very similar to most of the trails in the area. Fallen leaves cover the trail in many places and as we are now in late fall, the nearly barren trees allow clear views of the landscape. The large group begins to fragment based upon each hiker's pace. This isn't normally an issue, but many of the slower hikers have positioned themselves closer to the front, forcing those behind to hike at a lesser pace. I see several people ask to pass and things sort of adjust naturally as we make or way through the woods.
After stopping at the observation deck to allow people to take in the sweeping view of the river far below, we make our way down a steep hill along one of our group leader's "secret trails", which takes us down near river level. From here, we follow the well worn trail north and into the bamboo forest. There seems to be a fair amount of bamboo growing in and around Atlanta, even some near my house, but the "trees" here are enormous. Many of the trunks are 6-8 inches in diameter and reach heights of 40-50 feet. The whole grove covers an area of roughly ten thousand square feet, but even at that small size, it's the largest example I've seen of a bamboo forest.
We spend a little time here before moving on. Several of the hikers in our group opted to take a different and less steep path to the forest and are only now reaching it as we depart. Not wanting to wait very long, we tell them to take a quick look and then rejoin us. The trail we take then leads us into a somewhat residential area that our leader has hiked before, but there is some amount of route-finding necessary as much of it has been overgrown since his last visit. I think some of the slower hikers get frustrated and begin asking for a route back to their cars. We eventually turn around and head back the way we came before rejoining the main trail.
Arriving back a the parking area, I catch a ride back to my jeep and while doing so, see we only covered about 5 miles today. It's a short hike, but I got to see what I came for. Several of us decide to visit a local tap room for drinks and snacks. Okay, just twist my arm, why don't you.
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