A fun Day Trip to Dahlonega: TrailFest + AOC Outreach Tent + Dayhike!

IN A NUTSHELL:  This special Saturday day trip has been planned in conjunction with our AOC free campout at "TrailFest" in downtown Dahlonega over the same Mar 27-29 weekend.  If you'd like to camp with us on Fri or Sat night or both please register instead for that AOC event which will offer exciting optional group activities all weekend and is posted as a separate online article.
  Registrants (for either of these TrailFest events) are encouraged to help staff our "AOC Outreach Tent" for an hour or so and to join us for a nearby scenic Dayhike.  Also please help us share a little "Trail Magic" with AT thru-hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts whom we'd like to encourage to support our Club.  Suggestions for specific donated snacks and other small items will be emailed to all registrants.
    DayTrip registrants will gather at 9:00 AM at the AOC's designated free parking lot in Dahlonega and are encouraged to take advantage of the optional 8:00 AM Saturday carpooling that will meet at the GA-400 Mansell Rd Park & Ride.  See Directions below for both of these AOC meetup spots.  

WHAT IS TRAILFEST?   Just 50 miles north of Atlanta, the historic "gold rush" town of Dahlonega is a "stone's throw" from the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail and is widely known as the friendly "gateway city" to the legendary 2200-mile-long footpath.
  Each March Dahlonega celebrates the new hiking season by hosting on its town square a wonderful free event called "TrailFest."  Produced by hardworking local volunteers, the festival honors the hundreds of northbound AT thru-hikers (a.k.a."NoBos") who are beginning their quest - most of them in March - to backpack all the way from nearby Springer Mountain, GA to Mt. Katahdin, Maine.  There's no shortage of exciting attractions at TrailFest including fascinating outdoor-related presentations, live music, arts & crafts displays, delicious food & refreshments and much more!  Click here for specifics about the amazing 2015 festival and then click "Program" for this year's schedule of presentations, live music performances, etc: http://DahlonegaTrailfest.org/ 

AOC SATURDAY PLAN:   Our Dahlonega friends who host TrailFest have offered us free booth space on the town square where we'll have our AOC Outreach Tent set up all weekend, Fri-Sun. There we can enjoy the jovial atmosphere of the town square and "spread the gospel" about what a fine Club we have with like-minded partners including the Len Foote Hike Inn and the GA Appalachian Trail Club.  We intend to build on the AOC tradition of "Trail Magic" and distribute small donated snacks, etc. as mentioned above.
   During the day please pitch in at our Outreach Tent (for an hour or so)  and feel free to add your own personal touch to our volunteer efforts.  We plan to organize at least one optional Saturday Dayhike in the Dahlonega area and to share some "Trail Magic" with AT thru-hikers that we encounter.
  For lunch on Saturday there's an amazing variety of restaurants & cafes within a 5-minute walk from the town square, and we may suggest a specific place and time for a group lunch and/or late-afternoon group dinner.  More details about these optional activities will be forthcoming and in the interim we welcome your comments and suggestions!
  By the way, we intend to go ahead with this event Rain or Shine, esp. because we can so easily find shelter in the event of severe weather.

SPECIAL THANKS!  to our friend Tom Lamb, the chief organizer of Dahlonega TrailFest - also to AOC Director of Events John LaBelle who facilitated our connecting and working with Tom to plan and offer this excitingly different AOC event.

DIRECTIONS to AOC PARKING LOT in DAHLONEGA from GA-400 / I-285 INTERCHANGE on ATLANTA'S NORTH SIDE:

1.  From the north-side GA-400/ I-285 Interchange take GA-400 North for about 47 miles to its official end at the GA-60 junction near Dahlonega.  (En route note that our suggested carpooling meetup spot is the Park & Ride lot at the GA-400 Mansell Rd exit in Roswell/Alpharetta - about 9 miles north of I-285.)
2. Turn Left at the traffic light onto GA-60 toward Dahlonega and stay on it about 5.1 miles to the traffic light at GA-52.
3. Continue straight ahead at the light onto S Chestatee Street, go just 0.5 mile, and bear slightly rightward at the Dahlonega town square (site of Trailfest and our AOC "Outreach Tent").
4.  Turn Left onto N Park Street and go just 3 more city blocks.  Park as close as possible to the N Park Street/ Jones Street intersection by the old school building  there.  Streetside parking in that vicinity isn't expected to be a problem and there may also be space remaining in our "Campers' Lot" directly behind the school.
5.  AOC day trip participants will gather at 9:00 AM just inside the school parking lot entrance (at N Park and Jones).  After introducing one another we'll firm up the day's optional hikes & other activities, suggested meetup times, dining options, etc. - also we'll have a signup sheet for volunteering at our AOC "Outreach Tent" on the town square.  If you have to miss the 9:00 AM gathering for any reason look for us on the square!

FOR a ZOOMABLE MAP or SATELLITE VIEW of the AOC Parking & Meetup Area click on the square blue & green "Event Location" icon near the top of this article.

GPS and MAPS.GOOGLE.com USERS:  Feel free to augment the above written directions by entering the following Lat/Lon coordinates as your "Destination Address" for our meetup spot at N Park Street & Jones Street:  34.5344,-83.9863