Not content with only five miles for the day, I joined my normal Meetup group for another hike on the other side of the metro area around noon. The tangible humidity from this morning's sunrise hike left me a sweaty, stinky mess and so, I returned home to shower and take care of some chores before hitting the trails again. When I did finally start the drive, I encountered no less than three delays due to traffic accidents - a common occurrence and source of constant frustration in Atlanta. I called the organizer and told him I would be late and would just catch up on the trail.
When I arrived, the group was just passing back by the parking area and so it worked out well. I quickly joined in and we began making our way through the woods on this very new trail system called Wilderness Camp. It was opened earlier this year and was primarily designed for mountain bikers, but hiking is allowed. The trails wind around a wooded area just north of Lake Allatoona. In addition to getting in more mileage, I wanted to hike here since it was new. The trails seem very well maintained, being newly cut. That said though, this is another of those trail systems that just seems to wind back and forth on itself with no destination - a trail cut for the sake of having a trail. These are not my favorite, but it was still nice to get in some more trail miles and visit with friends while we made our way.
The humidity was as oppressive as a third-world dictator and towards the end, I felt some symptoms of mild heat exhaustion coming on. It's probably good that we finished when we did. The group got in a half-mile more than me due to my late arrival, but I still managed to add another 6.2 miles to my total for the day. Now to head home and relax . . . and get another much-needed shower.