Little Mulberry Park (Gwinnett County, Georgia)

 It has been extremely cold in Georgia the last couple of days, with temperatures in the low teens and will chills dipping into the single digits. Originally, I had planned to head to mountains today for some trail miles, but with the blast of arctic air, I decided to stay a little closer to home and ended up joining one of the Meetup groups for a few miles at the nearby Little Mulberry Park. It's an extremely nice area with many miles of trails (much of it paved) and I've hiked here many times in the past. 

There was some confusion on which parking lot to meet the group at, but after getting that sorted, the twenty or so of us that braved the cold air hit the trail. First walking by the old oak tree and then on towards the waterfall along the Ravine Trail. The waterfall was partially frozen, which always makes for a good shot. I dropped down over the railed observation area to get a picture clear of the trees. A couple of others joined me, but we quickly rejoined the larger group.

As always, we got into a number of discussions about a variety of topics. These are a great bunch of people and I enjoy hiking with them. The conversations continue as we do a little bushwhacking and end up just doing a circle in the woods. We couldn't find a less-used trail today's leader was looking for and eventually gave up on it. The decaying leaves cover the forest floor and make a loud rustling sound as so many feet push through them, but it's a pleasant sound.

Back on the well marked trails, we head around to the lake and T-rex Island. I've visited and written of this before, but just beyond this wooden landing structure, there is a small island in the lake and a Tyrannosaurus Rex statue has been erected right in the center of it. There's no explanation given anywhere, but it makes for an interesting conversation piece.

As we make our way back towards the parking area, I see that we've put in about 8.2 miles today, which is just about perfect to plan. Some of the others are headed to enjoy a group dinner, but I must head home for now. I'll look forward to the next hike with this group.