Old Roswell Mill at Vickery Creek (Fulton County, Georgia)

 

It's been raining pretty steadily for the last four days. I was hoping to get some big trail miles in this weekend, but the downpours put a damper on that. I was able to get out to the Old Mill Park in Roswell along Vickery Creek this afternoon for a little bit at least. I've hiked around this area a while back, but not this specific trail. I'm also hoping that the man-made waterfall will be raging with all of the precipitation we've had.

After parking at a mostly empty lot at the park, I took some time to walk the paved trails in and around the old mill and the dam that powered it. As I had hoped, the creek is really raging right now. There's actually quite a bit of rusted old equipment left at the mill. A number of giant gears and feeder mechanisms remain a testament to this place of necessity from yesteryear. 

Walking a bit further towards the falls, there is a nice overlook from which one can truly see the power of the creek that would have been harnessed to grind local farmer's grain century or more ago. The muddy waters flow over the damn and plummet thirty or forty feet into the creek bed below, filling the air with a thunderous echo that can be heard for some distance.

From there, I walked back the way I came and crossed over the covered bridge that connects this park to the Vickery Creek Unit of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, which has many miles of trails. I only be doing a few of those miles today. After climbing the steps up from the bridge, I find myself at one of the trail junctions and use the posted map to plan a route for the day. Hopefully, staying on the high ground will keep me out of most of the mud.

This is a popular area and there a quite a few other hikers out on the trails even with the recent rains. Perhaps, their plans had to be changed as mine were. I hit a number of junctions and end up getting a nice loop in. The woods all through here is really quite beautiful and it offers some nice views of the creek far below in a couple of places. 

Circling back to the bridge, I finally decide to call it a day and head back to my car. I put in about 3.2 miles today, which really isn't much, but it's better than nothing and getting to see the raging creek and just get some fresh air is always worthwhile.