We went hiking the other day with Arthur Ratliff of the Georgia Sierra Club, following him on the 5-mile loop around the giant granite monadnock known as Stone Mountain. It was no ordinary outing. It was the 100th hike that Ratliff has led for the Sierra Club since he became a hike leader in 1999.

During his hikes over the years, Ratliff has introduced numerous folks to wild places all over Georgia and parts of North Carolina. Leading so many hikes in so many diverse places is no small feat. Only a few achieve that milestone. For one thing, a lot of work goes into preparing for a hike. Sierra Club hike leaders must undergo a lot of training, including becoming proficient in first aid, and they must scout out their routes and work out numerous logistics, such as where participants will meet, before the hike itself.

Charles Seabrook / Special (ENLARGE)

More than 80 people, including Lydia Pochatko (left) and Kathy Bull followed Arthur Ratliff around Stone Mountain to celebrate the 100th hike he has led for the Georgia Sierra Club.

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Ordinarily, the club limits participation in each outing (most of them free and open to the public) to about 12 people. However, some 80 of us Sierra Club members and friends showed up at Stone Mountain the other day to walk with Ratliff and commemorate his milestone.

Ratliff, a State Farm insurance agent in Atlanta, noted that most of his hikes are easily paced, which is why many beginners choose his outings for their first treks into the wild. "I really enjoy taking people out for the first time," he said. "I want them to enjoy hiking, and I try to make it a good experience for them."

In an interview, he talked about his hikes:

Q: What is the toughest hike that you lead?

A: Probably to the bottom of Tallulah Gorge in Rabun County. We take the [some 700] steps to the bottom, but we take the steep rock trail back up. At some point we may have to wade through waist-deep water.

Q: What's one of the easiest, or most popular?

A: The hike on the Berry College campus in Rome is very popular. Berry College is one of the largest and most beautiful campuses in the United States. The trail starts from around the student dorms and goes to the top of a mountain. It's beautiful in all seasons of the year.

Q: What problems do you encounter leading a hike?

A: Well, we've gotten lost, but not seriously lost. And then there are the usual things, such as people accidentally locking the keys in their cars parked in the middle of nowhere. We've run low on water a couple of times and had to ration it. And then there are city folks out on a hike for the first time who have to come to grips with no restroom facilities available.

Q: What is one of your most memorable hikes?

A: I was leading a hike in the Raven Cliffs [Wilderness Area] in North Georgia, and there were several children from Puerto Rico along. It started snowing and icing up, and the children thought it was real cool; they were thrilled because they'd never seen snow and ice before. But we adults knew we had to get out of there fast.

Q: Any parting advice?

A: I urge people to get outdoors in 2008. Georgia is a beautiful state, and you would be amazed by what's beyond the freeways.

For information about upcoming Georgia Sierra Club hikes, visit www.georgia.sierraclub.org.

More outdoors

If you're looking to commune with nature in 2008 and learn more about Georgia's natural treasures, a slew of other opportunities await you. Check out:

• The Atlanta Audubon Society at www .atlantaaudubon.org., which lists upcoming bird walks led by experienced birders.

• The Georgia Ornithological Society at www.gos.org, which has links to numerous birding organizations around the state that regularly conduct bird walks in their areas. The society's site also has links to nature centers across Georgia — including the Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell — that conduct field trips and other nature-watching activities throughout the year.

• The Georgia Botanical Society at www.gabotsoc.org, which lists upcoming field trips led by experienced botanists.

• Georgia ForestWatch at www.gafw.org, dedicated to protecting, preserving and restoring Georgia's two national forests — the Chattahoochee in North Georgia and the Oconee in Middle Georgia.

• Georgia state parks at www.gastateparks.org, which tells about bird walks, wildflower hikes, canoe trips, tree-climbs and other upcoming events in the parks.

Other organizations with helpful information include the Georgia Wildlife Federation at www.gwf.org; the Georgia Conservancy at www.gaconservancy.org; the Nature Conservancy of Georgia at www.nature.org

/wherewework/northamerica /states/georgia; and the Georgia Native Plant Society at www.gnps.org. Also, check out the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division http://georgiawildlife.dnr.state.ga.us and the Coastal Resources Division at http://crd.dnr.state.ga.us.

In the sky

The moon will be last quarter on Monday. It will rise about midnight and set around midday, Fernbank Science Center astronomer David Dundee says. The only planets visible now are Venus, which rises out of the east about an hour before sunrise; Mars, which rises out of the east at about sunset; Saturn, which rises out of the east just after midnight.