Sun, Mar 13 2011 - Afternoon Hike at East Palisades on the Chattahoochee (View Original Event Details) Trip Leader(s): James Mitchell Participants: James Mitchell, CatherineB, Monica, Michelle D, Tatiana, Chris H, Joyce T., Russ, Pedro R, Charlie Cottingham, Mary, Michael, Melissa M

Write Up:

The East Palisades section of the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area is one of my all-time favorite spots to hike. (Thank you Angela for introducing me to this wonderful park.)

We set a blazingly fast pace (for a D3), everyone did a great job staying together. Thanks again to Charlie for sweeping for us.

The river was quite full and moving very swiftly.

 

The view from the ridge at the river bend is always refreshing.

 

While the official hike took us beyond 6 miles, we actually ended 1/2 hour early. A group of us (Chris, Michelle, Catherine and myself) then decided to find the cave that Chris and I had visited in the past with Angela.

Guiding us purely from memory, Chris lead us to the picturesque overhanging rocks (aka ... 'the cave'). We stopped for a few quick photos and were just about to leave when I was nearly trampled to death after Catherine and Michelle looked up and spotted several rat snakes basking in the sun ... on the edge of the rocks ... directly above us!!

When our heart rates came back down to marathon runner levels, we made our way back to the parking lot.

And as always, the hi-rez photos of all the above shots are available upon request. Just send an email to jmitchtx@gmail.com.

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