Sun, Aug 9 2009 - Kennesaw Mountain Morning Fitness Hike - Intermediate to Advanced Hikers (View Original Event Details) Trip Leader(s): Danny Participants: Danny, Matt Booker, Ray A., Ava, David Thompson, Alexandra, Nancy L, Michael, Pam G, Gary Hubert, Aaron Lee

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It was a very hot and muggy hike which made this hike have shades of D5-ness at times.  We got underway just after 7:30 AM as planned.  After a group photo and a quick introduction we headed up Big Kennesaw.  First thing I noticed was that I was beginning to sweat after only gaining about 20 feet in elevation.  Second thing I noticed was that there was no breeze.  Regardless, we pressed on over Big Kennesaw, over the hump in the middle, up and over Little Kennesaw, across Big Rock Gap, over Pigeon Hill and down to Burnt Hickory Road for a break.  We met a couple of the speedsters already heading back when we went over Pigeon Hill.  Several of us decided to take the extra ~3 mile loop to extend the trip a bit.  We looped around quickly, crossing Noses Creek once on rocks and another time over a bridge.  We then headed back up Little Kennesaw after taking a 2-minute break at its base.  We took a look at  General French's Rock for a moment just off the top of Little Kennesaw.  To learn more about General French's Rock, from General French himself, just google ("General French" "Kennesaw Mountain"), then you should see a link entitled: "Battles and sketches of the Army of Tennessee - Google Books Result".  Click on that and it will show you pages in a book that were taken from General French's writings about the Civil War.  He mentions the rock.

After another small break at the top of Little Kennesaw we pushed on to the hump in the middle and on up to the Mountain Road.  After a small breather there, we did the last climb of the day by cresting over Big Kennesaw again, then zoomed down the mountain back to the visitor's center where we parted ways.

Thanks for coming out for the hike this hot morning.  Looking forward to more, but perhaps under cooler conditions :-)