Daisy Days at Arabia Mountain (DeKalb County, Georgia)

 

I always enjoy getting out for a nice hike before work and today I'm bringing a special guest. My elderly mother has recently moved in with my wife and I. I've been trying to get her out for some exercise, but each time she has made excuses. Finally, the appeal of seeing bright yellow daisies alive on the mountain inspired her enough to get up and active at an early enough hour for us to get a short hike in and me make it back to my home office to start work.

We arrive at the trailhead on the southern end of Arabia Mountain just in time to snatch up the last available parking spot. The conservancy that oversees Arabia and Panola Mountains is running an event this entire month to get people out for Daisy Days. The event entails hiking up each of the three monadnocks southeast of Atlanta during the month of September when the mountains spring to live with bright yellow daisies. Judging by the number of cars here so early, it seems to be drawing a crowd, even on a Wednesday morning.

My mother is not much of a hiker, but she's interested, and so, we make slow and steady process towards the granite incline. All along the way, we are greeted by an assortment of gorgeous fall wildflowers. The bright yellow daisies are the most prevalent, but there are also purple flowers on various bushes as we follow the well-worn trail to the closest ridge. Mom seems to be enjoying the hike. I warn her to be exceptionally careful as the ground beneath our feet is anything but even, but she seems to do fine on it.

When we finally reach the top of the ridge, she spends a few minutes looking in all directions and taking in the view. Mom has never really explored very much and this is probably one of the longest views she's ever had, though we are barely at 900 feet above sea level. Still, it's nice seeing her enjoying herself. Afterwards, we make our way back the way we came and she says how much she enjoyed the short hike. I don't know the distance that we covered for sure, but it was probably about a mile in total. It was nice to spend some time with her and I look forward to doing it again.