Tribble Mill - Full Loop (Gwinnett County, Georgia)

After feasting with family and friends for the Christmas holiday, I felt the need to get some trail miles in today. The Meetup group that I hike with most frequently had planned to do seven to eight miles at the nearby Tribble Mill Park. Though I've hiked at this well maintained park in the past and rarely like to hike the same trail more than once, it was a convenient opportunity to work off a few of those holiday calories. 

Arriving at the parking lot a few minutes before the scheduled departure time, we did a quick round of introductions before hitting the trail. About twenty of us in all. Starting first on the paved trails, we make our way around the larger of the two lakes in the park. When we reached the far side, the track switched to dirt as we entered the woods tracking at a pretty good pace, but as often happens a few people started falling behind.

As we made our way up the hill on the far side of the lake, the trail becomes a series of long switchbacks and in order to help some of the slower hikers catch up, the organizer cuts a couple of switchbacks. Soon afterwards, we stop for a short snack break and discuss how we want to proceed. It's decided that some want a bit more mileage and I offer to lead the smaller group on some additional switchbacks, while the main group heads back towards the parking lot. 

As my group gets started, I ask if they are okay with a faster pace. With everyone's agreement, I bump up our pace to right around four miles an hour. At every trail junction, I choose to take the option leading away from the parking lot, but we still only add a short distance to the hike and actually arrive at the cars before the main group - likely do to our very quick pace. I check our distance and see that we've hiked nearly 7.7 miles. While the trail was easy, the quick pace on the last section allowed me to get a pretty good workout in and to feel as though some of those calories have been burnt away.