FULL MOON Night Hike - Thursday April 9 - Sweetwater Creek State Park

Have you ever been hiking at night? This is a rare opportunity to enjoy a night hike on a full moon! Thanks to the people who run the Sweetwater Creek State Park, once a month they organize a hike on evenings with a full moon. The hike is open to the public, but they limit the size of the group. They are gracious enough to allow 15 of us AOC'ers on their hike this month. If there is continued interest I will talk to them about making this a monthly event for the AOC. The park normally closes at sunset, so this is indeed a rare occasion.

Sweetwater Creek State Park describes the event as a 1.5 mile guided hike, moderately difficult, and visits the Civil War-era textile mill ruins of New Manchester and follows the lovely rapids (up to class IV) of Sweetwater Creek.

The guides also require a headlamp or flashlight, you don't have to have it on for the whole hike, but it is required.

I rated this a D3 because it is a night hike and I have not personally attended this event before, however, there is a guide provided by the park.

Please remember to bring $3 cash for the day use parking fee. You can also purchase an annual State Parks parking pass at this location for $30 (hurry and get one at that price, GA legislature is going to raise the day use fee to $5 and annual fee to $50).

Take I-20 west from Atlanta, exit #44 at Thornton Road, turn left and go 1/4 mile. Turn right on Blairs Bridge Road, go 2 miles and turn left on Mount Vernon Road. We will be starting from the Trails/Interpretive Center parking lot.

OPTIONAL CARPOOL WITH BRUCE ALDRIDGE

Anyone concerned like my unemployed self to share a car with three people and pay 1 buck each instead of 3 per car; Bruce Aldridge will be happy to meet them at the Thornton Road park and ride lot. It is only 3 - 4 miles to the park from there. At the top of the Thornton Road exit (coming west on I-20 from the ATL), turn right, travel maybe a long city block to the light at N.Blairs Briudge Road, turn right and up to the top of the hill at the end of the road, and turn right again and down into the elongated park and ride lot. We'll meet towards the bottom of the lot, next to Thornton Road. Call Bruce at 404-242-2743-cell or at home 770-435-9752 if you want to carpool.

NOTE THAT WE WILL STILL SIGN IN AT SWEETWATER CREEK, REMEMBER TO BE THERE NO LATER THAN 7:45PM

Day use parking fee

According to the rangers, the hike will continue if it is overcast but will be cancelled if raining, although they have never cancelled in the past even with rain.