Urban Hiking (Blogophilia 24.10)

I was looking at the prompts this week and I thought about doing a WOFT segment, with Harry doing a Surf Music retrospective with the Ventures. But Christine Wichman, beat me to the punch. And really, there wasn’t anything Harry hadn’t covered before out there to work with.

I briefly considered a Devil’s Quill bit, using the “devil’s music” to draw the suckers in, but that didn’t really fly, either.

Then it occurred to me, Walk, Don’t Run perfectly sums up my fitness protocol. Due to a minor electrical/valve defect, I can’t run more than half a mile before my heart hits 200 beats per minute. But if I keep the speed to less than 4 mph (a good power walk pace), I can go all day long. And for us...uh, older...folks, it is much less stressful on the joints.

Do I do this in a gym? No. Those are meet markets down the street, where the boys and girls watch each other eat, when they only want to watch each other sleep. I’d like my scenery to change as I go. Hence my hobby of Urban Hiking. For the cost of the occasional park fee, I get a wide variety of views.

Atlanta has many options for the hiker. From more traditional forest hikes, (Chattahoochee River Trails, Kennesaw Mountain), to Historic Civil Rights trips (The King Center and The Carter Center are about 2 miles apart), to architecture sightings, the combination of hills, ground and pavement will keep you interested.

Last week, I tried a new place, South Peachtree Creek trail. At 2.2 miles, it is a moderate level trail running along both sides of a rail right-away near the Emory University campus, not far from my house. It has only been open about a year or so. The trail head was next to a set of tennis courts where a guy was channeling his inner John McEnroe, which made the first 1/4 mile kind of annoying.

A large part of the trail uses boardwalk due to the terrain and in some areas, it appears you are walking along the treetops looking down at the under-story along the creek.

There is a side trail where an abandoned pump house has been tagged by “artists”.

The remains of their tagging party was sadly apparent. Often, I carry a garbage bag to pack out trash, but I didn’t have one with me on this trip. It’s part of being a trail angel and the karma is often returned. 

As with most trails here in town, you run into random art. It makes for a nice touch.

I will be returning to this trail again in the near future. There are a couple of more side trails needing to be looked at. 

So, how about you? How do you get your exercise in? Are you a goal achiever or do you prefer to smell the roses as you go along?

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Topic-Sallon Newlove

Pic-Tyler Myrth

Pic Guesses: In the Clouds, Alone, Lonely Boy, Apart, Distance, Solo,