Mason Mill and Lullwater Preserve (DeKalb County, Georgia)

This morning, I'm getting out to a new hike inside the I-285 perimeter with the Atlanta Outdoor Club. We'll be hiking several trails that connect Mason Mill Park to the Lullwater Preserve. I join the group at the Mason Mill parking area and after a quick round of introductions, we're off. It's brisk this morning, but knowing that I'll heat up pretty fast once we get moving, I decide to go ahead and loose a layer here at the start.

We keep a pretty quick pace as we make our way through the woods on well-maintained trails. I chat with a couple of the other attendees as we hike alongside a small creek. The fall colors are nearing their peak and it makes for a pleasant visual experience.

Soon, we enter Lullwater Preserve, which is essentially the grounds to Lullwater House, a mansion build in the Tudor style in 1926 from stone quarried on-site. The house and grounds were much later donated to the nearby Emery University and now serve as a recreational area for the public. The mansion itself is quite beautiful and appears to be cared for very well, though I fail to get any pictures of it due to maintenance workers in my frame.

Nearby, we pass by the creek again and what was once the power-generator house for the mansion. A small dam creates a man-made waterfall in the creek and once provided the power source to light the grounds. It's got a very rustic look and is quite interesting.

A bit further, we re-enter the woods and find the concrete ruins of some kind of structure, which has now become the canvas for numerous graffiti artists. It actually adds a lot of character to this hike, which isn't far from the metropolis that is downtown Atlanta. The art work is pretty standard, with cryptic words and letter combinations painted in bright and vivid color schemes. One panel, seems to illustrate a fight between three individuals. I'm sure there is a story behind it, but much like the petroglyphs I enjoy searching for in the deserts out west, perhaps only the artist knows what he or she was trying to say.

Rounding out the hike, we return to Mason Mill Park. Unfortunately, the group splintered and it takes us a couple of minutes to determine the correct path, but we soon find it amongst the tennis courts and parked cars. We managed to hike about 6.6 miles today and I must say that is was surprisingly interesting. I often find that hikes in and around the metro-area are simply trails cut for the sake of cutting trails, with no real scenery or points of interest to be found, but that was not the case with today's hike. I'm thankful to the organizer for introducing me to this area.