Sunset Hike & Perseid Meteor Shower at Mason Mill Park

IN a NUTSHELL: Nice weather is expected this Saturday evening with few clouds, and the Perseid Meteor Shower will be near its spectacular annual peak.  Hope you can join us for this leisurely night hike which will include sunset (at about 8:28 PM) plus meteor-gazing and stargazing.

EVENT PLAN: We'll meet at 7:30 PM in Mason Mill Park's free parking lot—see detailed directions below.  After introductions we'll hike and observe the sky together via the pretty trail system, stopping often to regroup and enjoy the scenery in the twilight and ensuing dark — don't forget to bring a flashlight or headlamp.  Our total distance will be only about 2 miles with no steep sections.

SKY & METEOR GAZING:  Along the trail just 200 yards from the parking lot there's a high boardwalk that is shielded from glaring streetlights, etc. by the surrounding trees.  If the weather cooperates we should get to see a nice sunset and with a little more luck some bright "shooting stars" of the Perseid meteor shower.  I'll use my green laser pointer to point out Mars and Saturn (setting near one another in the west) and the meteor shower's "radiant" in the constellation Perseus, which will be rising in the east toward the end of our skygazing session.

ABOUT the PARKS & TRAILS:  Mason Mill and Medlock are two adjoining DeKalb County parks just east of Clairmont Road that are conveniently connected via a network of scenic shady hiking/biking trails and boardwalks.  The mile-long South Peachtree Creek Trail is the main trail that links them, and like the "Silver Comet" was designed and built to the high standards of the "PATH Foundation."  It features a half-mile-long raised wooden deck through the forest canopy above the creek.  Another recently completed portion of this trail is an amazing high wooden walkway and deck that cross the railroad tracks and give hikers nice views of ruins of the early-20th-Century "Decatur Waterworks."

FOR a COLOR MAP of SOUTH PEACHTREE CK TRAIL and its adjoining Mason Mill & Medlock parklands, etc. click on this link:  http://pathfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/south-peachtree-creek-trail.pdf

FROM the "SPAGHETTI JUNCTION" I-85 / I-285 INTERCHANGE in NE METRO ATLANTA:

1. Take I-85 South toward Atlanta about 4 miles and get off at Exit #91 "Clairmont Road."

2. Turn Left onto Clairmont Road (US-23 southward toward Decatur) and go about 2.3 miles to the traffic light at McConnell Drive. (This is the first light south of the much busier junction and light at North Druid Hills Road).

3. Turn Left onto McConnell Drive, go 0.1 mile ahead and turn Right at the stop sign to stay on McConnell (following signs toward Mason Mill Park and DeKalb Tennis Center).

4. About another 0.1 mile ahead, look for the Mason Mill Park sign on your left and turn Left into the large free parking lot.  We'll gather by the stone Restroom building.

STREET ADDRESS and LAT/LON COORDINATES of the Mason Mill Park parking lot where we meet:
  1322 McConnell Drive, Decatur, GA 30033
  33.8079,-84.3066
May be useful in conjunction with the above Directions.  Enter one or the other as your destination for GPS or Google.com/maps.  The McConnell Drive address is a "virtual address" that pinpoints the parking lot entrance gate.

Free Event with Free Parking!