Sat, Jan 31 2015 - The Lovely Lakes of Stone Mountain: Adventurous 14-Miler w/ free Parking & Park Entrance (View Original Event Details) Trip Leader(s): Charlie Cottingham Participants: Charlie Cottingham, F Richardson, Denise Millon, vbagga, Helena F, Michael Johnson, Jerry K

  Hurrah for the team!  We seven AOCers had a wonderful time together on this excitingly different style of dayhike - "circumnavigating" around the shorelines of all of Stone Mountain's beautiful lakes.  Since we stayed true to our goal of hiking as close to the water as possible (even around dozens of narrow peninsulas that jut far out into the lakes) our trek turned out to be a bit longer and more strenuous than I had estimated when planning the event.  Despite the total length of the "loop" turning out to be about 14 miles (+ total uphill elevation gains being at least 1000 feet and our total elapsed time about 7 hours) everyone in the group was a real trouper!  Kudos to the group for having no complaints about the occasional steep rocky sections, 2 or 3 dangerous climbs, and our need to bushwhack through briers and vines over huge deadfalls along the indistinct or sometimes almost-nonexistent trails.
  Due to time constraints Denise, Helena, Jerry and Vikas decided to head back together toward the cars via the Park's sidewalk system when we reached the 11-mile point at the Jefferson Davis Drive crossing.  Since Fiona, Michael and I (Charlie) had no early-evening family conflicts, etc. we enjoyed continuing the "quest" along the rugged lakeshore - completing about 3 more miles in the bright twilight and moonlight and arriving safely together back at Michael's car at about 7:00 PM.
  Everyone agreed that the dozens of gorgeous out-of-the-way places that we visited - many never seen before on any other AOC event - made our mutual endeavor very worthwhile and memorable!  Thanks and congrats especially to Vikas for choosing this as his very first AOC hike - it was a delight having him with us.
  -Submitted by Charlie, 9:45 PM Sat night