Chattahoochee River - Suwanee Creek Unit (Gwinnett County, Georgia)

 

Today, I decided to join the Atlanta Outdoor Club for a hike in the Suwanee Creek Unit of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. I've hiked many of the park units, but this one was unknown to me, even though it's very close to my home. The hike organizer mentioned that this unit is undeveloped and has no official trails or parking area. 

I met the organizer and two other hikers in the corner of a nearby grocery store, where we had agreed to leave our cars for the hike. After a sprinting across Peachtree Industrial Drive due to a malfunctioning crosswalk light, we walked a short distance through a pleasant neighborhood before reaching the entrance to the park unit. There is an old sign here, but all of the print has either worn off or was removed. 

The trail begins as a dirt road, which followed a short ways before ducking into some side trails that had been cut by someone, perhaps one of the many residents of the nearby neighborhood. The hike organizer mentioned that he had scouted the trails out prior to this event and had good idea of the route he planned to take. We followed his lead and were treated to some nice, but pretty standard trails through the woods. With most of the trees still barren of leaves, we could see quite some distance across the landscape. It was nice.

After completing a small loop on the western side of the dirt road, we headed towards the confluence of Suwanee Creek and the Chattahoochee River. Here we crossed an old concrete bridge, which seemed sturdy, but likely hasn't been used in years. Now it acts as a canvas for graffiti. 

From there, we walked alongside the Chattahoochee for a short distance, even climbing down an earthen bank to examine some kind of abandoned crane apparatus. The trail continued to loop around until we found ourselves back at the dirt road. 

The bulk of our miles put in, we headed back through the neighborhood towards our cars. Overall, it was a nice little hike of just about 5.2 miles. I have to compliment the organizer for having explore the trails so thoroughly before posting the event and for maintaining a strong pace for the hike, which was a pleasant surprise.