Fri, Apr 27 2018 - 10th Annual Dauset Trails Spring Camping and R&R Retreat: Free Kayaking & Canoeing and miles of Hiking & Biking trails! (View Original Event Details)
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We Dauset Trails adventurers had an unforgettable good time together at this wonderful privately funded nature preserve just south of Atlanta, and were treated to perhaps the best weather in the 10-year history of the trip, with clear skies all weekend and the bright full moon + Venus, Jupiter & the Big Dipper decorating the heavens over our campfire both nights. As usual for this festive family style weekend we had an unbelievable assortment of delicious contributions to our group meals and plenty of enthusiasm for our hiking, kayaking & canoeing outings and other activities - including just chillaxing occasionally by the lake. To our chagrin a flock Canada geese decided to squawk all night long on Friday night which made for restless sleeping, but after dark on Saturday there strangely wasn't a peep out of them - until sunup Sunday morning, when a sudden raucous "goose reveille" roused us, as John Everly aptly put it. Our ranger friends Connie, Jeremy and Darryl who manage the park agreed with our guess that the squawking was mainly young male geese vying for alpha status since this is their mating season.
After breakfast on Saturday we enjoyed a leisurely group hike from our lakeside campsite to the Nature Center's Wild Animal Trail, where we were among the first visitors to see the famous groundhog, General Beauregard Lee" (our southern "weather prognosticating counterpart" of PA's Punxsutawney Phil). He appeared to be happily at home in his new "plantation mansion motif" enclosure, after being moved to Dauset Trails from the recently closed Yellow River Game Ranch. We also took the time to see the live alligators and other amazing reptiles in the Visitor Center Museum - also to explore the botanical gardens, old-time farm, and lotus pond with its bright pink & white blossoms (via the "Tree-ID Trail").
All weekend many of us also took the time to explore on foot or by mountain bike some of the huge scenic trail network that branches out in all directions from our group campsite. Some hiked all the way to Indian Springs Village - a 7-mile or longer round trip. Numerous treats reward visitors there including an ice cream shop, a "whimsical botanical garden" and Indian Springs State Park's beautiful "entrance cascade" beside its historic namesake spring.
We look forward to our participants sharing links to some of the hundreds of colorful photos and video clips that were shot over the weekend. Until those arrive click here for a nice Facebook photo album of similar shots that Joyce Taaffe shared just after our September 2015 trip: https://www.facebook.com/joyce.taaffe/media_set?set=a.10154265231915260.1073742659.540275259&type=1&l=f7de108755
-Submitted by Charlie, Mon Apr 30th. I hope you can join us for our next annual AOC autumn retreat at this wonderful place, reserved for Sep 28-30, 2018.
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