I had an awesome day. I visited Georgia’s George L. Smith State Park – and I hiked more than 5.5 miles of trails. (Hiking might be a bit of an overstatement – but I did walk the more than 5.5 miles of trails and I had an awesome, awesome time.) I’ve uploaded a few pictures. The park offers two trails – a 3 mile trail that starts near the old mill house and a 2.5 mile trail that starts near the boat dock. I preferred the 3 mile trail, which looked a little more natural and felt a little more “woodsy”. All in all, today was a great day. I took a big bottle of water and I had strawberries and organic peanuts. I feel great and I can’t wait to go back. Now, some photos:
This is the old mill house. It is situated so that when water flows from the left-side (as we are facing it) to the right-side a series of paddles turn and power a turbine. The turbine is connected to the mill – and the mill can be used to grind corn.
This is a view of the mill from the other side. The water was trickling through today – so I didn’t get to see the mill “in action”.
Here’s the map of the trail – 3 miles of awesomeness!
As you can see, the trail is wide – probably wide enough for a family of four to walk side-by-side – though it does narrow in certain places.
I think that this pine tree looks amazing. Why do you think it turned like that?
World famous hanging moss.
This is a view from inside the mill house,
This is from the boat dock which is located near the start of the second, newer trail. I liked both trails, but I preferred the older, longer trail.
This tree has been injured – and is oozing sap.
A small section of the trail is covered with knee-deep grass – a little spooky in rattlesnake land!
This is my favorite picture – I took it just as the fog lifted and the sun popped out from behind the clouds.
I had a really good day. I felt like a kid on an adventure. I’ve decided to try to visit all of Georgia’s state parks. (As for riding a bike on these trails – I felt much better walking slowly and enjoying my surroundings.)
