Tales From The Wood Booger: Not-Hike Georgia Over The River & Through A Neighborhood

Friday, January 16, 2015

Not-Hike Georgia Over The River & Through A Neighborhood

It was Thursday and that means it was the day our Hike Georgia group hits the trail. Well, today I had scheduled a hike but because of weather (damp cold, fog and threat of rain) I cancelled it, but told anyone who wanted to, could head out with me. John and Beth took me up on my offer and we set out for Bowmans Island Unit of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area (CRNRA).

At Lake Lanier

On the Laurel Ridge Trail.

Squirrel at the Upper Overlook

The Granite Core.

You can park at the CRNRA below the dam (for $3), but we parked at the Lower Overlook and hiked down the Laurel Ridge Trail, across the boardwalk footbridge, by the dam and across the metal footbridge past the dam spillway. It is then past the parking for the boat ramp to the second trailhead of the day, Bowmans Island Unit.

Buford Dam.

Heron on the "Hooch."

The nice footbridge...

...at the spillway.

One of the many Canadian Geese we passed.

At the Bowmans Island Trailhead.

Now with a lot of the trails in these CRNRA locations there are a lot of side trails. We took the River Trail. I read on the National Park Planner site that at one time this trail was unmarked, but now it is on the official Parks Service map. As the name indicates the River Trail follows the Chattahoochee down to the Fish Hatchery. There are some nice views of the river down this path. The funny thing about the River Trail is it is on a narrow piece of land between the river and an upscale subdivision. People have even put chairs at spots over the river.

One of the new map stands.

Headed up the River Trail.

Newer metal footbridge.

One of the benches overlooking the river.

The Chattahoochee & Bowman Island.

Once you arrive at the Fish Hatchery you can’t enter from the trail because there is a fence. You have to go around via Trout Place Road (future visit, because you can tour it and see the trout). Well, we continued up the trail and the loop we where doing. It is here when the trail comes out of the woods and takes a unique turn. The path literally goes right through the subdivision I mentioned earlier. The trail is not the sidewalk, but a different path. It is a wood chip trail with a fence that crosses driveways and every once in a while there is a sign that says stay on the trail (I guess they don’t want us hiking riffraff spoiling their neighborhood). This part is close to a mile before finally heading back into the woods where we finish the loop.

Trout sign...

...& the Fish Hatchery that stocks the river.

Where the trail heads...

...out of the woods...

...& winds through the subdivision.

This means "don't leave the trail you dirty hikers."

Where the trail heads back into the woods.

My hiking partners John & Beth.

Back to Bowmans Island.

Another footbridge.

Finishing the loop.

On our way back we made a slight detour at the dam to see its goats. I have mentioned these goats before but they are used to “mow” the dam. I nayed at the goats and a couple actually came down to the fence. That was kind of cool. Anyway, as we headed back up the Laurel Ridge Trail the weather finally set in but it wasn’t rain rather sleet. Despite all of that it was a good hike of about 6.5 miles and we got nice views of the Chattahoochee River and Lake Lanier over all a good Non-Hike Georgia.