Just when I think I’ve seen all of Atlanta during my 42 years here, I am reminded that there is still much left to see.
That happened the other day when I received a new book called “Hiking Atlanta’s Hidden Forests: Intown and Out” by Jonah McDonald. An Atlanta church administrator, McDonald is an avid hiker who has walked the entire 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail.
His book outlines 60 hikes — from less than a mile to 12 miles in length — within 30 miles of Five Points, from Stone Mountain Park to city parks that are unfamiliar to many Atlantans.
Each entry contains maps, directions and some of the birds, trees, flowers, historic structures and other features that you may encounter on the hikes. Special attention is given to the city’s champion trees — noted for their height, girth and other attributes — in the preserves.
McDonald said that when he moved to Atlanta 12 years ago, he was amazed over its expanses of green space where serenity and solitude still can be found.
“Most people in Atlanta believe they must drive hours to the mountains to go hiking,” he said. “On the contrary, we are surrounded by forest and hiking trails just minutes from our homes and hotels.”
Last week, he invited Atlanta Audubon Society President Joy Carter and me to walk one of those trails in Herbert Taylor Park and adjoining Daniel Johnson Nature Preserve in Midtown’s Morningside neighborhood.
How had I missed these gems all these years? Flowing through the old-growth hardwood forest are peaceful Rock Creek, with a gentle waterfall, and the South Fork of Peachtree Creek, with a scenic, sandy beach. We saw or heard 23 bird species, including a pileated woodpecker and several white-eyed vireos, and were amazed over the large colonies of trilliums and other wildflowers along the mile-long path.
Breathtaking were the park’s huge beech, loblolly pine, tulip and maple trees. We also stopped to admire the park’s three city champions — a black cherry, a shumard oak and a silver maple.
“It’s hard to find an intown forest section as beautiful as this,” McDonald said.
In the sky: The Eta Aquarid meteor shower, visible this weekend through Tuesday night, reaches a peak of about 20 meteors per hour Monday night, said David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer. Look to the southeast from about midnight until dawn.
The moon will be first-quarter Tuesday. Mercury is low in the west just after dark. Venus rises out of the east about two hours before dawn. Mars rises out of the east just before sunset. Jupiter is low in the southwest at dusk and sets in the west a few hours later. It will appear near the moon tonight and Sunday night. Saturn rises out of the east at sunset.
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