Hiking at Chattahoochee Bend, Georgia's newest state park!

Yes, I know I said that this entry was going to focus on Kolomoki Mounds and the great hiking opportunities at the state park there.

But I changed my mind.

The Chattahoochee Bend State Park visitor center...

Why the change of topic? The answer is that Georgia now has a new state park – Chattahoochee Bend State Park just southwest of Atlanta – and this park is going to be a great one for hiking!

The new park, located on 2,910 acres in Coweta County, is one of the state’s largest state parks and protects seven miles of frontage on the Chattahoochee River.  The park offers a variety of camping options (including walk-in and platform tent camping as well as a dedicated RV section), and a group camping area with screened sleeping shelters. Day-use visitors will find plenty of picnic tables, and covered picnic shelters can be reserved for special gatherings. River users will appreciate the paved boat ramp, which offers easy access to the river for paddling and fishing.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources has described this new park as “a haven for paddlers, campers and anglers,” and they’re right – but I’d add the word “hikers” too. More than six miles of trails (with more being planned for the future) are sure to make it a destination park for those who enjoy putting on the hiking boots.

I had the opportunity to sample some of the hiking at Chattahoochee Bend this past weekend, and let me say that this is one you’ll want to be sure to put on your “to-hike” list. I explored portions of two trails at the park – the Riverside trail, which begins near the boat ramp at the end of the main park access road, and the East-West trail, which begins behind the park visitor center.

Riverside Trail

The Riverside Trail trail head.

To stretch my legs (and to break in those new hiking shoes we talked about last time!) I walked a portion of the Riverside Trail first. Preliminary trail construction and clearing work on this trail have been completed, and sections of the trail are being opened to hikers as crews complete blazing. The Riverside Trail is marked by white blazes.
The Riverside Trail begins near the boat ramp, though you may have to look to find the trail head. Look for two roadside signs (one reads “RESTROOMS” and the other tells you that pets are allowed on a 6-foot leash) located near a metal bike stand. The trail head is just to the right (as you face the woods) of the “pets” sign.

The Riverside Trail is seldom very far from the Chattahoochee River.

Start your hike by following the trail from the trail head for about 25 paces to a double-blazed tree. At that point, if you’re not paying attention, it might appear that the trail continues straight ahead (toward some large erosion-control rocks). Just before the rocks, the trail makes a right-angled turn to the left, dropping off a slightly elevated walkway onto the continuation of the trail. This is the only even mildly confusing intersection on this portion of the trail.

After just a short distance you’ll come to the first of the three creek crossings. As you do, the trail will drop off the floodplain and descend sharply to the level of the creek. At this time each of the Riverside Trail’s creek crossings is made on a simple temporary plank bridge, but permanent crossings (including an elaborate wood foot bridge being constructed as a Boy Scout project) are in the works.

You'll want to be sure to climb the observation tower.

I followed this newly blazed portion of the trail for just over a mile to its temporary end at the park’s wooden observation tower. The walk took me along the river, paralleling the water (sometimes closely, sometimes farther back in the woods) for the entire way and crossing two more small creeks along the way.  The shade of overhanging branches made it a pleasant hike, even in the heat of an early afternoon. I made it a leisurely hike, walking slowly and stopping frequently to enjoy views of the river, to watch wildlife, or to wonder at that sound I heard out in the trees or at that splash I heard from the nearby river.

Eventually I saw the observation tower taking shape through the trees. Climbing 26 steps (more or less) took me to the top of the tower. From the top, I could look out from the top toward the river (the view will be great in late fall when the leaves are off the trees) or back through the nearby woods. Several rustic wood benches provided a good place to rest a moment, and then it was time to descend the tower and begin the hike back, returning the way I had come.

From the trail head to the tower is just over a mile, making this a great hike for park visitors who want to sample the park’s trails.

The East-West Trail

The second Chattahoochee Bend trail that I sampled on my visit was the park’s East-West trail. Also a work in progress, this blue-blazed trail begins behind and to the left of the park’s visitor center. You'll spot the trail head waiting for you just over 50 yards from the rain barrel at the corner of the visitor center building, and it’s identified by a tree with two blue blazes.

This stone-lined section of trail follows a small branch.

Beyond the trail head, the pathway begins a fairly steady descent – and it isn’t too long until you’re sure you hear the sound of flowing water. 

Hmmm. Did you take a wrong turn and end up somewhere up in north Georgia alongside a mountain stream? No, you’re still at Chattahoochee Bend – and the sound you hear is coming from a small brook that splashes and flows over a series of rocks and ledges as it makes it way to the river. It's a brook that's made to have a trail alongside it, and the trail planners at Chattahoochee Bend have obliged in style.

Hiking alongside the branch near the East-West Trail trail head.

The trail soon turns to closely follow the little creek, and I must say that the section of trail here is one of the prettiest trails I’ve seen. Bordered by carefully-placed stones as it follows the creek, it is as picturesque a trail as you’ll find. The amount of work that went into preparing this portion of this trail is great, I’m sure, but it was definitely worth it. A tip of the hat to the trail builders who worked here – you’ve created a foot path that visiting hikers won’t soon forget!

The trail eventually crosses the creek, then follows the far side of the creek for a ways before transitioning (via a series of switchbacks) into more hilly terrain. Parts of this portion of the trail, like many trails in steeper terrain, have a fairly significant cross-slope. Be careful not to take a careless step and turn an ankle.

After climbing for a while, the trail again becomes relatively level. Double blazes mark several sharp changes of direction as the trail moves through wooded areas and relatively open stretches. Eventually I came to the temporary end of the blazed section, marked by another red ribbon across the pathway.

I’m looking forward to the completion of this trail, too, so I can see what comes next.

Along the way…

My guess is that the trails of Chattahoochee Bend are sure to become known as great ones for viewing and photographing wildlife. The generally sandy soil makes it easy to move quietly on these pathways, and quiet passage means that there’s a chance of seeing wildlife along the way. I kept an informal tally on my two hikes, and the list ended up including deer, turkeys, and innumerable smaller critters and birds.

There’s no doubt that wildlife added to the experience of these hikes – but so did a couple of resonant trees!

What’s a resonant tree? I’d first encountered a formally-designated resonant tree while hiking at Kolomoki Mounds in southwest Georgia, where one of the park’s trails takes you to a hollow three that booms like a drum when you thump its side.

At Chattahoochee Bend, I encountered several such trees along the Riverside Trail. My favorite is one you’ll find as you approach the observation tower from the trailhead end of the trail. You’ll find this particular tree just a bit more than 200 yards before you reach the tower.

But be warned: the urge to test resonant trees is just about irresistible! After looking around to be sure that no one was looking, I gave the tree a tentative thump and got a satisfying little boom in return. A more definite thump yielded a bigger sound.

I gave the resonant tree one more thump, getting a really good ringing boom in return…and then (feeling just a little bit silly) I listened for a moment just in case someone at some other resonant tree happened to hear my signal. Any response? No, only the wind in the trees and distant sound of something big splashing in the river.

But if you heard something booming from the woods of Coweta County last week, you now know what it was!

And watch out for…

Besides deer and turkey and resonant trees, there is one other thing that you’re almost certain to encounter along these trails: ticks.

If they weren’t such a pain, ticks would be pretty interesting creatures.  They seem to be adaptable, and they’re certainly efficient.

There appear to be several different types of ticks at Chattahoochee Bend. After studying them up close, and being the finely tuned observer that I am, I have classified them into three types: big ones, middle-sized ones and little ones. I know my naturalist friends are cringing at that, but you get the general idea.

Personally, I am (how to put it in a family-oriented blog) not particularly fond of ticks. Thus, I have begun a program to re-order those three categories into one all-encompassing category, which I am going to call "squashed ones." In fact, I grab every opportunity to pursue that goal and take great glee in reducing every tick I encounter down to two dimensions. 
Ahh, the joys of the natural world! But ticks are just part of the landscape in the summertime outdoors in much of the southeast, and Chattahoochee Bend is no exception. Remember to check for ‘em when your hiking is done.

Speaking of which, what do you do to deal with ticks on the trail? If you’ve got any good ideas, let me know!

What’s ahead for hiking at the Bend?

The trails at Chattahoochee Bend State Park are a “work in progress,” notes park manager Trint Wicklund. How will that work shape up in the future?

Steve St. Laurent is trail and communications chair for the Friends of Chattahoochee Bend State Park, an organization which (among other things) fields an eager cadre of trail-building volunteers on regularly scheduled work days. He observes that the potential for trail development at the park is very great over the next few years, with well over 20 miles of trail development (including loop and interpretive trails) in the park’s long-range plan.

Dave Smith, another of the many volunteers who has worked on the park’s trails, is equally enthusiastic.

“There’s not been a time I’ve been on the trails in this park that I haven’t seen something unique,” he says.

If you’d like to be a part of the trail-building program at Chattahoochee Bend State Park, you can find out how to get involved at the Friends of Chattahoochee Bend State Park website at www.bendfriend.org.

And plan to visit the park soon, too, to be among the first to explore the trails of Georgia’s newest state park.

How to get there: From I-85 near Newnan, take Exit 47 (Hwy. 34) Go west 0.8 miles and turn right onto Hwy. 34 Bypass (M Farmer Industrial Blvd.). Then go 6 miles and turn right onto Hwy. 34 (Franklin Road) at a four-way stop. Continue another  8.2 miles, then turn right onto Thomas Powers Road and go 2.7 miles to another four-way stop. The road name changes to Hewlett South Road. Continue straight for 0.9 miles. Bear left onto Bud Davis Road and go 1.9 miles. Turn right onto Flat Rock Road. The road name changes to Bobwhite Way. Continue straight to the park entrance.