Settles Bridge (Gwinnett County, Georgia)

 

I decided to get out and stretch my legs a bit this afternoon. With fall upon us and winter just around the corner, the days will soon be shorter and I need to take advantage of the daylight we have. I chose to return to Settles Bridge Park, which is only a 20-minute or so drive from my home. I've been to this park a few times in the past, but it's a decent place to stretch one's legs and has some nice scenery.

After parking my car, I started down the paved bike paths into the woods. The trees are already starting to change colors. In a couple more weeks, I'm sure the entirety of Georgia will be an autumn wonderland with the fall colors in full bloom. After crossing a small wooden bridge, my path leaves the pavement and heads deeper into the woods toward the Chattahoochee River. Over the past few years, the invasive joro spider has become a common companion whenever venturing anywhere and I must be on the lookout. While the spiders are not venomous, they are quite large and their webs are very tough and sticky. After seeing a few of them on either side of the trail, I grab a stick and begin waving it in front of me to dislodge any webs rather than walk into them face first.

I took the path I remember toward the remains of Settles Bridge itself, but soon ran into a blockade of spider webs, including one of a rather large specimen. The leg span of that particular one was probably around five inches. Rather than knock down this mess of webs, I decided that I might be on the wrong path and doubled back. Finally finding the correct path to the bridge's remains, I encounter a young family that had brought their kayaks ashore here at the base of the bridge. I greet them and proceed to take a few pictures of the bridge. I've always found these dilapidated bridges along the Chattahoochee interesting. So much time and money was spent to erect them and then they are eventually just left to the ravages of time to finally rot away and fall into the shallow waters below. 

Returning the way I came, work up a little bit of a sweat. Though it's the first day of October, temperatures are still in the mid to high 80's today and there's a bit of a hill to climb to get back to the parking lot. When I reach my car, the GPS track says I've hiked about 2.9 miles. Not a lot of miles, but at least it got me moving a bit.