AtlantaOutdoorClub
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Sun, Aug 7 2005 - Hike Wolfden Loop (View Original Event Details)

Trip Leader(s): Richard A. Zalik
Participants:Wendy Blount, Hayley Williams, Jennifer Waller, Claire Stigall, , Angie Smith, Shilpa Shah, Mark S. Davis, Jenn Smithyman, Sharon Baldwin, Dave Fergemann, Richard A. Zalik

Write Up:
We met at the carpool location at 10:00am and were on the road by 10:15. Some of the participants didnt show up because of a variety of reasons. We had invited a couple of extras (from the wait list) and this gave our group a critical mass of 8 people. This was the first AOC experience for a couple of hikers and everyone was upbeat and very excited about the day ahead.

We made the 60 mile car journey to the trail head very fast. Although one of our cars took the scenic route, we were all at the trail head before noon. While the forecast for Atlanta promised thunder and lightning, the weather for Pine Mountain promised to be much better, as it indeed was - at least initially.

The five mile hike to Cascade Falls was a beauty. Some of us were able to spot deer. We initially maintained a very fast pace and by popular demand we slowed to enjoy the scenery and the surroundings a bit more. It did not rain a drop, and actually the sun came out a couple of times! We stopped for lunch at Cascade Falls. While initially there was just a single person exploring the water, within a short time a lot of us had kicked off our shoes and had fun at the pool. The ones who didnt enter the water had a great time taking pictures and organizing everyone for the group portraits. Richard amazed us all by climbing the face of the waterfall.

After lunch the expected happened, and it started to rain. The more experienced hikers had brought along their ponchos while some of the rookies had to brave the downpour & get soaking wet. For a few short minutes it felt like Hell Week in Navy SEAL training. But the scenery was so beautiful and we kept crossing and recrossing a couple of very pretty creeks overflowing with the rain water. It was a good team effort and we all made sure that everyone crossed the creeks without getting hurt. We walked the remaining two miles to our starting point without incident, and finished our hike at about 4:30.

On our way back to Atlanta we made a brief stop at Dowdells Knob, one of former President FDRs favorite places to go for a picnic. The sun was out in all its glory & we enjoyed an excellent view of Georgias natural beauty. No wonder FDR fell for this view. We had a camera snapping wedding party and an all-female Harley Davidson gang for company at this point.

We reached our starting point around 6:00pm and overall were very satisfied on how we spent the day. We started out as eight complete strangers and finished the day as a team of eight.
Written By: Ganesh Krishnamurty with contributions by Angie Smith,
Photos From: none provided