Clinton Nature Preserve (Douglas County, Georgia)

With the Grand Canyon trip now behind me and a couple of marathons in front of me, I've switched my fitness focus more to running in preparation for those grueling miles. That said though, I'll still continue to hike as new opportunities present themselves. The first of which is to explore the Clinton Nature Preserve with the Meetup group. This park is about twenty miles southwest of the I-285 loop around Atlanta, which is diagonally opposed to where I live, but still it seemed like an interesting hike.

I arrive slightly before today's organizer and assure the other hikers that he will be along. And as predicted, he arrives with about ten minutes to spare. After a quick round of introductions, we head off into the unknown on this hot and very humid day. The trail starts out on a gravel road, but quickly turns into well eroded single-track as we enter the Georgia woods . . . or jungle, as I have come to think of it. There are a number of bike trails cutting through the landscape and we select one to explore. Very early on, it takes us to a deserted pavilion that was likely host to several weddings and other festivities in years past. At this point though, the foliage has started to reclaim the building.

Continuing on, we select different trails to explore as we encounter multiple junctions. The group is going at a pretty good clip today and not until we hit a small water crossing do we really stop. Here, we spend some time trying to find a good place to cross. The water is shallow and myself and one other hiker decide to just go for it and wade across to the other side. It wasn't really any hardship. The others find some place to cross a little downstream and we quickly regroup.

Having done a rough figure eight over the course of about five miles (5.2 to be exact), I note the time is approaching and as I want to get home in time to run a couple of errands, I decide to break from the group and head back to my jeep. A few others join me, but the majority of the group continues on. It was a good trail to explore, but hiking in Georgia in the summer is just nasty with this tactile humidity.