Stone Mountain
Day #744 * Hike #903 * New Track #710
Thursday November 29, 2012
Stone Mountain Park - Atlanta, GA
My Tripometer: 4 Hours * 7 Miles * +1000 Feet
Trailhead
Jess and Alyssa dropped us off in Stone Mountain Village where Ayden and I were going to rent bikes and pedal to the park. However, we arrived too early so after warming up with some coffee and hot coco, we set off by foot down the path. **By the way, the coffee shop in town is cute and you will have a choice of many flavored cocos. However, the cafe mocha was nasty -yuk...
Less than a mile to the park from here...
Enter the Woods
A quicker way to the park is to turn left at the road. Of course, you can always pay the park admission fee and drive right up to the visitor center, but why would we do that?
Very confusing trail system
Lost in the woods, we crossed this bridge...
Finally reaching the Stone Mountain
The trails all seem to loop around in circles. We traveled an additional mile or so to reach this point but the trail did not yet cross the tracks. The trail markings were fairly easy to follow but they were not labeled with where they actually lead to. We ended up far to the right so we followed the trail and tracks to the left...
Finally, walking on the stone through a X-Mas light show
Free Museum inside the Visitor Center
(Unless you drove here, you would have paid ?$
Stone Mountain History
Okay, get ready to climb 700 feet now...
About 1.3 miles to the top
Passing Bubble Gum Posts
(Reminds me of Bubble Gum Alley in San Lois Obispo)
Some Parts are steep (not really :))
Come'on Ayden, you can do it...
Nearing the top
The ski lift that we will take down
Ayden looking out
Snow to the left?
3 minute ride down to the bottom
We arrived early and there was no one selling tickets up top. Thus, our ride down was FREE! Normally the ride is $5.50 per person each way...
Outside of the man made snow for tubing
It's only open on the weekends in the winter months. They also have a laser light show down here. The place was pretty empty today - it was a work week day in the winter...
We hiked down to the mountain and passed Andrew Johnson and the history of the states...
We hiked along the railroad track
We hiked along the Cherokee Trail
This lead us to a lake...
Turning back down snowflake lane
actually, we were leaving...
Ayden was spent...
Jess and Alyssa were spending extra time in Covington for the Vampire Diaries Tour. Therefore, Ayden and I walked an extra couple of miles along the freeway and streets. We ended up at the American Deli which was next to the Walmart.
Stone Mountain is a MUST VISIT if you are in the Atlanta area. What a Great Way to begin a Vacation!
Its funny you mentioned bubble gum alley in SLO. went there for the first time ever for Thanksgiving weekend and made sure to leave my own piece of gum!!!!
ReplyDeleteI was there several years ago, before I started this 1000 Hike adventure. I've been meaning to head up to the SLO area because there is so much beauty. I recently watched the video that we shot when placeing the gum on the wall and I'm curious if our bubble gum will be recognizable.
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