Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield - Full Loop (Cobb County, Georgia)

Today, I'll be leading a hike around the entire full loop of the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield. This is the last of the training hikes that I scheduled on the Meetup group in preparation for the Camino Portugués de la Costa, which I will be starting in a few days. This is a roughly 17.6 mile loop, which I've hiked a couple of times in the past few years. That seems like a really big hike, but considering I hiked over 30 miles last Saturday, this seems like a walk in the park. 

I arrived at the overflow lot a few minutes before my posted start time and after paying the parking fee, made my way to the visitor's center, where I told hikers to meet. When I arrive, I find a man and a woman waiting. After confirming they are here for the hike, I introduce myself and they do the same. I've actually hiked with the gentleman before. We wait until the designated start time, but in the end, we are the only three. It seems the other several people that signed up didn't take the time to remove themselves from the event. Nothing new there. 

After explaining the plan, we quickly hit the trail, which starts with a steep ascent up Big Kennesaw Mountain. I find that I'm really enjoying being in shape right now. We're moving at a good clip up this steep trail, and I'm barely breathing hard. I need to keep myself in this kind of shape from now on. We stop at the upper parking area to enjoy a view of downtown Atlanta in the distance before finishing the trail to the summit. Along the way we pass a few mock cannon installations commemorating the Civil War battle that took place a century-and-a-half ago. I also mentioned the famous soldier carving at the top that states "prepare to meet they god" and we spend a few minutes looking for it. It takes a bit because someone had a bag sitting on it. 

From there, we head down towards the saddle between Big and Little Kennesaw. This part of the trial is a bit rocky and I take it a little slow, as I don't want to injure myself before my trip to Portugal. I do mention that this is pretty much the hardest part of the hike and the vast majority of the rest of our trail will be flat. 

As we come down from Little Kennesaw, the gentleman hiking with me realizes he dropped his hat. We back track about a quarter-mile, but soon find it. I'm actually kind of glad that we did as it gave us a little more distance. We make quick work of the next few miles, which does flatten out dramatically as I had suggested. Along the way, we tell jokes and rib each other pretty heavily. The company is great and I'm really enjoying myself.

Around 12:30, I suggest trying to find a place to eat lunch. A short while later, we cross Cheatham Hill Road and take advantage of some picnic tables just beyond the trailhead parking area. We enjoy some snacks, including walnuts, almonds, fresh blueberries, artichoke hearts, and pretzels. It's good to get some calories in us, but after about 15 minutes rest, we're all ready to go and hit the trail once again.

Now getting into the far southern part of the park, we enter a beautifully lush woodland area and encounter some wildlife. First, I hear a hissing sound just as a black snack scurries off the trail and under the leaves beside it, leaving the very tip of his tail out. I'm not sure what kind it was, but the hiss would lead me to believe it might have been a hog nosed snake. I don't want to disturb him further though and we agree to let him be. Just a mile or so further and we spot six deer in a little grass-covered meadow just few yards off the trail. Luckily, I'm able to snap a couple of pictures of some of the herd. Beautiful animals.

Rounding out the southernmost tip of the park, we make the turn and begin heading north. Before we do though, we take advantage of a water fill station the park service has placed here. While I have plenty of water, on a hot day like today, it's worthwhile to fill up at every opportunity. The others do the same. 

On the way back, we stop at a couple of the Civil War monuments, which are always interesting. Many of them commemorate the regiments that participated in the battle, including the Illinois Monument. We also take a moment to observe a tomb of an unknown soldier buried here a short time after the battle.

As we make our way further north, I feel my legs wanting to move and I push the pace a bit, but my new friends struggle to keep up a bit and so after a mile or so, I stop and wait for them. They're not slow my any means, but I've just been hiking very, very fast for the past couple of months. I think we're all about ready for this hike to be over with though. Finally, we see the open field that lies just east of the visitor's center and know we are essentially done.

Once we arrive, we say our goodbyes and use the restrooms, which are thoughtfully left unlocked until 7:30 pm. I still have another half-mile to go to get back to my car, but once there, I check my GPS track and see we've hiked 18.1 miles, which includes that section we backtracked. Not bad at all. Tough it was very warm today, the great company and long hike made for a wonderful Saturday.