Arabia Mountain Wilderness Bushwhack (DeKalb County, Georgia)

 

I was kind of undecided on where I wanted to hike today. I had originally thought of driving up to northern Alabama to do some trails that have been on my checklist for a while, but after a busy day yesterday, I decided instead to join the Meetup for another hike at Arabia Mountain. The hike's organizer had discovered some trails in the woods east of the mountain itself last time he was here and wanted to explore them a bit.  I've hiked at Arabia Mountain several times since moving to Georgia, but usually around the granite monadnock. This would be an opportunity to explore the extensive wooded area around the mountain. Sounds like fun.

I got here a bit early in order to have a sandwich before hitting the trails, but soon I'm joined by other members of our group. As usual, we do a quick round of introductions before hitting the trail. Unlike most trips here, we do not walk the long boardwalk from the Heritage Center, where parked, to the southern face of the mountain, but instead almost immediately enter the woods. From here, we bushwhack a little bit until we find our way onto the northern end of the granite mountain. We spend a little time exploring around and discover a couple of interesting things, including the old armor where the quarry workers likely stored their explosive charges and the ruins of an old stone building on the edge of the woods. With its proximity to the quarried area of the mountain and the armory, it's likely that it was related to the quarry operations, but the truth is likely lost to history.

From here, we begin a long bushwhack into the woods east of the mountain. While much of the terrain is grown over, there are patches of solid granite for the extent of our journey. I knew there was a lot of it here, but I had no idea how vast of an area it actually covered. Our path forces us to do a couple of creek crossings, which provide a moderate challenge for some of the more inexperienced hikers, though we do our best to help them across the fallen logs that we use as bridges.

At one point, we stumble across a dilapidated deer stand in the woods. At the foot of the tree, in which it is built there are the remains of a large number of coyotes. Some are relatively fresh, while some are nothing more than piles of bones. I suspect the deer hunter eliminated these creatures as he encountered them. While I do understand how they can be a nuisance in urban areas, I hate seeing senseless killing of any creature.

Finally, we discover a network of wide trails. At first, I assume they were used by trucks to haul out loads of granite cut from the mountain, but there are no tracks and little sign of any usage at all, other than the fact that there is almost no dead fall along their lengths and they are well maintained. It's kind of strange and none of us can really figure out their purpose.

After exploring this area for a while, we end up road walking a short distance. While making our way around a sharp corner, we are witness to a car accident. A delivery van had signaled left turn into a drive way, while another car, traveling way too fast, attempted to cut in front of and around the van, blocking his turn. Instead, the car ended up colliding into a retaining wall and left the van wondering what had happened. Seeing the accident, I immediately burst into a sprint to see if I can help the individuals in the car. Though it is only a short distance, by the time I arrive, both driver and passenger have exited and seem to be fine. The airbags fired and likely protected them from injury. After ensuring their safety and that someone was contacting the police, we continue on our journey.

From here, we make the turn north onto Klondike Road and then enter a newly constructed sub-division before going back into the woods for more bushwhacking. The trails here definitely connect to those for Arabia Mountain; we just need to find them. Eventually we do, but by this time, many of our hikers are exhausted. We've already put in nearly 10 miles and still have some distance to go to return to our cars. That said though, there isn't really a shorter route from here. I hang towards the back and try to encourage some of the folks that are struggling. 

Eventually, we reach the parking lot and say our goodbyes. Our total distance was about 11.3 miles and speaking with some of the stragglers, it seems this was the longest hike they had ever completed. Good for them! While it was in an area that I have hiked a number of times, it was nice to find some new trails and new points of interest along the way.