Cochran Mills (Fulton County, Georgia)

Cochran Mills southwest of Atlanta is one of my favorite places to hike in the area, with it's combination of ruins and water features, I just find it an enjoyable experience every time I visit. Whenever the Meetup holds a hiking event here, I try to attend if my schedule allows. Having come from the nearby Banning Mills, I arrived a little early today and just waited near the parking area for others to arrive, which they did a few minutes before the scheduled start time. As usual, we did our round of introductions and then crossed back over the parking area and entered the woods. 

The yellow trail, which we started on is a bit overgrown with tall grasses and has been trampled pretty well by equestrians, leaving it a muddy mess in some places. It's still pleasant to be out here with friends though. As we make our way through the woods, we discuss some of the fungus we see growing on trees and do our best to avoid the joro spider webs that seem pop up everywhere these days. I organizer almost runs face first into one of the big specimens that has a leg span of around four inches. They aren't dangerous to humans, but I'm still not a fan.

We push ourselves pretty well and when we finally reach waterfall at Bear Creek towards the north end of the park, we stop for a short break. The creek passes through a narrow chute in the granite before spread back out to fan over the waterfall below. Sometimes the water level is low enough that we can hop over this chute and hit the trails on the other side. We discuss doing this today and while I'm confident that I and many others could make this jump, there is some danger involved and some of our members may struggle. We decide to forgo the leap and just take lunch. 

While sitting here, someone notices a small venomous copperhead between a couple of rocks right by where we are sitting. In fact, there had been a couple (not part of our group) sitting on one of the rocks when we arrived. They were completely oblivious to the dangerous creature, and are surprised when we point it too them. Everyone keeps their distance and I use the zoom feature on my camera to get a decent picture. As strange as it sounds with all of the hiking I do, this is actually the very first copperhead I've seen in the wild since moving to Georgia almost six years ago.

After our little adventure with the snake, we start the trek back towards the parking area. It's still a few miles and we have one big climb, which I make a point to run up just to get my heard pumping. The rest of the way is uneventful and we arrive back at the cars and say our goodbyes. Instead of departing though, I decide to walk to the other side of the park to visit the larger waterfall and ruins of the old mill. It's less than a quarter-mile and always worth taking in. There are a quite a few people in the pool below the waterfall just seeking some relief from today's oppressive head and humidity. I take my picture and head back to the car. My distance for this hike was 7.7 miles. I would have liked to get in a few more miles, but this will have to do.

Banning Mills (Carroll County, Georgia)

 

Some time ago, I read about a private resort southwest of Atlanta called Banning Mills. I think it was from an advertisement and while I didn't really have much interest in staying there, I was interested in hiking the their trails and visiting some of the ruins. As I'm driving down that way later today anyway to join the Meetup for another hike, I decided to leave early and check out Banning Mills. After parking my car and speaking with a young man at the main office, I paid my $7 fee, which goes to the preservation of the historical site and hit the trails.

To get to the first trail that I wanted to check out, I have to cross a creek by traversing what I believe is the longest suspension bridge I've ever crossed. I would estimate it to be about 100 yards long and stretched 100+ feet above the shoals below. I'm not really scared of heights, but the shaky nature of a suspension bridge combined with the distance and height are a bit unnerving. I slowly make my way to the other side and then head into the woods. 

My primary point of interest is the ruin of the old Paper Mill. While there doesn't seem to be much documentation on when the mill was built, it was in operation in the 1880's. Apparently, it was once four stories tall and powered at first by a large water wheel on the creek and later by steam power requiring two smoke stacks. Now, it sits in ruins - piles of stacked stones forming walls. It must have been a pretty large facility and I walk around it a bit before moving on. 

There are other ruins that I'm interested in seeing here, but the trail map is a bit confusing and by the time I get my bearings, it's almost time to depart. It was still nice to finally visit this place and I got a bonus 1.3 miles in.

Shoot the Hooch - Chattahoochee River Float (White County, Georgia)

 

For the third consecutive year, I've organized a float along the headwaters of the Chattahoochee River through the mountain town of Helen, GA for the Meetup group. The first year was a lot of fun, though it was chilly. Last year, I ended up getting COVID a couple of days before the event and not wanting to infect anyone else, asked another friend to take over the event. This year, I decided to plan the event a little earlier in the calendar. Previously, we had done it to coincide with Helen's famous Oktoberfest, but I thought doing it when it's a little warmer and a little less crowded might be more enjoyable.

After finishing our short hike complete with yellowjacket stings at the nearby Raven Cliff Falls, we headed over towards Cool River Tubing northwest of Helen and after paying our shuttle fees, started gathering on the deck. At the appointed time, our group (17 strong) headed down to the river to grab our tubes and begin our relaxing adventure. In years past, we've had to be shuttled further up the river and float a shorter route due to low water, but with all of the rain, we're able to do the longer float today, which is just fine with me. 

The waters of the Chattahoochee are nice and cool and feel great after sweating our butts off in the woods just before this event. I had explained to everyone that we're likely to get separated on the river and within no time at all, that's exactly what happened. Though a few of us tethered our tubes together for a while, most eventually had to release due to getting stuck on rocks jutting out of the water. 

My first time tubing was a few years ago while living in Reno and I found it to be a really relaxing way to spend a hot summer afternoon. My friends here seem to agree as we float through town. The water here is not too deep, but there are enough small waterfalls and rocks to make it an adventure. For all of the trouble they sometimes cause as we get stuck on them, they really make the activity more interesting and I wouldn't want it any other way. 

After about two hours, we reach the take out having completed about 2.5 miles on this sunny August afternoon. We collect ourselves on the shore and wait for everyone to arrive. After we've collected ourselves and taken the shuttle back to the put in, we agree to reconvene at the nearby Hofbrauhaus for some good German beer and a post hike/float meal. What a wonderful start to the weekend.

Raven Cliff Falls (White County, Georgia)

 

One of my friends in the Meetup group organized a short hike to do this morning before a water event that I organized later in the day. As we're both trying to get the miles in prior to a big trip coming up, it made sense for me to join her for these bonus miles. I've visited Raven Cliff Falls a couple of times in the past, but it's been a couple of years. I don't like to repeat hikes too often, but as this is near our second event and it is a nice trail with a rewarding waterfall at the end, I was easy to convince into making the exception.

The group of twelve or so hikers met at the parking area just before 8:00 am and after our customary round of introductions, we hit the trail. It's been raining a lot as of late and the trail is soft in a few areas, but nothing too drastic. Three of us get out ahead of the main group just due to keeping a faster pace. As we're chatting, I feel a sharp pain at my left ankle and one of my other friends mentions a yellowjacket buzzing around my legs. I didn't actually see the insect, but I certainly felt it as it stung me just above my sock. It's a little painful, but nothing too terrible and we continue on towards the waterfall.

Along the way, we see many other small plunges along Dodd Creek, which supplies the water for these waterfalls. With a couple of fairly steep uphills and just a minor amount of scrambling at the very end, we finally reach Raven Cliff Falls itself, which has cut a crevasse into the cliff over the eons. It's flowing pretty well today, but it's always kind of unique since the waterfall itself is several feet back into the crevasse. 

The three of us that arrived first decide to relax for a bit and wait for the others. When they do show up a few minutes later, it seems they encountered the yellowjackets as well and endured several stings. No one is badly injured, but certainly not pleased with the encounter. We check to ensure everyone is okay and then begin heading back the way we came. Knowing that we stirred up a nest somewhere, we push hard at a pace of over 4 mph and luckily don't encounter the nest on this return trip. 

Eventually, everyone arrives back at the cars. Between the stings and the humidity, this has not been an ideal way to start the morning, but visiting a beautiful waterfall and getting in almost exactly 5.0 miles is certainly not the worst way either. Now on to the next event.

Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield - Full Loop (Cobb County, Georgia)

With a big hiking coming up in a few weeks, I'm taking every opportunity to get trail miles in. I hiked about 6.5 miles yesterday, but I have something a little more grand planned for today. About an hour from my house, likes Kennesaw Mountain, which was the site of a fierce Civil War battle as General Sherman pushed towards Atlanta. This area is now protected by the National Park Service as a National Battlefield and offers many miles of trails. I hike here fairly often, but I've only done what I intend to do today once before and that was about five years ago. My plan is to hike the entire 17ish mile loop around the park.

Arriving at the overflow lot around 9:15 am, there are already a lot of people here enjoying their day and visiting the historic site. After a quick stop in the visitors center restroom, I hit the trail, which almost immediately starts the steep incline towards the summit of Kennesaw Mountain. Climbing nearly 700 feet in just over a mile makes for a good challenge, but it's always worth it and I try to maintain a strong pace as I make my way up. 

Reaching the summit, I find one of my favorite markers, which is a slab of granite carved to say "Prepare to meet thy God", which is thought to have been carved by Confederate Soldiers as they prepared for battle against the Union troops. It's been sprinkling rain just a little bit on the way, but the forecast did not call for anything substantial today and so, I push onward. The wet granite at the top, does force me to slow myself just a little bit.

The area at the top of Kennesaw Mountain, through the saddle, and over towards Little Kennesaw Mountain is the roughest terrain of today's hike and requires a very minor amount of rock scrambling, but it does keep things interesting. Before too long, I'm making my way down the backside of secondary peak and headed southward towards the crossing of Noses Creek.

These next several miles should be pretty smooth sailing and once again, I decide to put my headphones in and enjoy my audio book. I'm on park lands and still within the Atlanta metropolitan area. Though I'm in the woods, it's pretty civilized and I feel comfortable with my headphones on.

Though it's cooler today, it's still very humid and the hard work to climb the mountains in combination with the light drizzle earlier has gotten me pretty wet and sticky. I'll be glad for that hot shower when I eventually get home, but that's still a few hours away. I have miles to put in before I've earned that luxury. 

Crossing state route 120, I begin the largest section of the loop. All along the way, there have been life-sized replicas of Civil War era cannons set up as if they were ready for the battle that took place here 160 years ago. They make for good scenery and remind us of the hallowed nature of the ground where roughly 4,000 men died. The park service also puts numerous informational placards around to describe historic events or locations from the battle. It's a history buff's dream and as a psuedo-history buff, I appreciate it quite a bit myself.

Finally hitting the far southern end of the trail, I pass by Kolb's Farm, which was the site of smaller battle just a few days before the main fighting just north of here. The farmhouse itself has been preserved. I don't take much time here though and pass through quickly. It's interesting, but I've visited in the past and today is more about miles than history.

Now headed north, I pass through miles of wooded areas and catch site of a doe and her two fawns (one larger than the other) out for some lunchtime grazing. It reminds me that I haven't eaten yet either and pull a peanut butter sandwich from my daypack. I don't stop to eat, but just consume it while I'm on the move. I'm not racing anyone, but I do want to keep my heart rate up.

Further up the trail, I pass by the Illinois Monument. This is a large marble structure memorializing the Illinois soldiers who fought and died here during the battle. Though fairly deep in the woods, it is well cared for by the park service, as it should be.

By now, I'm getting a little tired. I'm not sore or anything like that, but I've been walking for a few hours now and I'm just kind of wanting to be done. I still have a few miles to go though before that's going to happen. The last miles of the trail are pretty uneventful and I arrive back at my car at right about the 6.5 hour mark, having hiked a total of 17.7 miles. This is the longest hike I've done in a while and though, I'm a little tired, I'm extremely happy to have completed this trail once again.

Little Mulberry Trail (Gwinnett County, Georgia)

Originally, I was planning to hike a short section of the Appalachian Trail this morning, but after re-evaluating the travel time, I decided to hike closer to home. I've got a concert to go to tonight and don't want to be late. I've got a very, big hike coming up in a few weeks and I'm trying to get trail miles in whenever I can. I decided to hike a few miles at the nearby Little Mulberry Park. Though I've been here many times, it's a good option as it is nearby and the trails are quite popular, which will allow me to continue listening to my audio book while I'm getting some exercise. 

The park seems especially busy on this rare August afternoon, where is is both not raining and a bit cooler. Many people are out taking advantage of the great weather. The trail begins on pavement, but at my first opportunity, I enter the woods. I'm breaking in some new hiking boots and pavement is not the best option. I pass a number of families out enjoying the day. Everyone is friendly and either offers a nod, a wave, or a hello.

Before too long, I've made my way to the lake and decide to follow the trail around it. There is a small island in the lake and though I don't know the story behind it, someone has erected a tyrannosaurus rex statue in the center of it and cleared the trees out to offer a unobstructed view. I've commented on this before, but it never ceases to amuse me.

As I being making my way back the parking area I decide to walk across the observation plateau, which I believe is the highest point in Gwinnett County. It's nothing more than a mowed field, with a slab of concrete poured and some park benches scattered around, but it does make for a nice astronomical viewing area when certain stellar events occur. Just as I begin down the hill towards the car, a light sprinkle begins. It's actually kind of nice, since I'm fairly sweaty from my fast pace. I was able to get in about 6.5 miles today. That's not much, but I have plans for substantially more miles tomorrow.