Fri, Sep 28 2012 - Hiking, Paddling & Camping Weekend at Beautiful Dauset Trails + Optional Mtn Biking (View Original Event Details) Trip Leader(s): Courtney H, Charlie Cottingham, Kevin, Tom H Participants: Charlie Cottingham, Courtney H, Tom H, Joyce T., CB Genrich, T. Hunter, Lorri, Laura, David Bennett, Heidi W., Wendy M, cliff j, Mary Beth, Lauren, Trish, Robin, Marlene, Greg Walling, Robin Walling, D S Hess, Lemmy, Thomas W., richard, Theresa, Tatiana, Bill Xu, TRACI C. SMITH, Gloria, Kevin, Tom, Vilai, Maria I

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  Let’s hear it for Dauset Trails!  Our friendly and fun-loving group of AOCers had a blast there all weekend and newcomers were quick to agree what a marvelous place the Nature Center is, just a convenient 1-hour drive south of Atlanta.  Although scattered showers had been forecast, the weather could hardly have turned out better!  After “nary a drop” all weekend we managed to pack up and head home on Sunday just before some of North GA’s heaviest downpours of the year began to fall.
  Thanks to all for your enthusiastic participation in everything including our group hikes, wildlife trail & museum visits, mountain bike rides, canoeing & kayaking floats on the lake, shared “potluck” meals at the pavilion, and campfires both nights.  Thanks esp. also to Kevin Berger and Robin Boulter for organizing and leading a variety of mountain bike outings including rides on the challenging new “Indian Springs Trail.”   Almost all of us greatly enjoyed hiking or mountain biking on this beautiful newly opened 3.4-mile trail that now conveniently connects Dauset Trails with Indian Springs State Park and its quaint adjoining village.  A fitting reward is the wonderful ICE CREAM! that awaits us at the trail’s eastern end at the delightful little “Sweet Shop” in Indian Springs.
  Thanks to my friends and trip co-leaders, Courtney and Tom Harjung (a.k.a. "the Noodlemaster!") who helped oversee everything including the delicious foil-wrapped banana-chocolate-nut "Campfire Treats" that we baked in the campfire coals Friday night and our Sat night dinner cooking & cleanup.  We were wowed by everyone's delicious and bountiful contributions to our meals, snacks and refreshments all weekend.  Everyone pitched in impressively with food prep, serving & cleanup, and with making sure that we left our dining, camping and lakefront area even cleaner than we had found it.
  We jointly took hundreds of fantastic photos over the weekend including shots of dozens of amazing wild critters.  Thanks to those of you who have already shared your online photo albums.  I'll be glad to post them below as I receive them so please continue emailing those links to me at Cott4Treks@aol.com.  I also welcome your individual humorous (or otherwise?) trip anecdotes which I'll be glad to add to this archival event writeup.  Note that you can retrieve our original event announcement article by clicking on "View Original Trip Details" above this archive.
  I look forward to our next AOC weekend at Dauset Trails, Friday April 26 through Sunday April 28, 2012.  I’ve again reserved their lakeside camping area, dining pavilion and boats exclusively for the Club's use.  Mark your calendars and expect to see my online AOC announcement article for the trip sometime in March, with signups beginning the first week of April.  - Submitted by Charlie, Oct 2, 2012 

THANKS for these SHARED PHOTO ALBUM LINKS I’ve received thus far!

THOMAS WOLFF's Flickr Album Link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomasawolff/sets/72157631678642117/

JOYCE TAAFE’s Facebook Album Link:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151939640695260.506227.540275259&type=1&l=ea99a2c60d