Bicycling: Arabia-Panola Mtn Paved Trail + Post-Ride Picnic

OVERVIEW:  The weather is shaping up nicely for another gorgeous fall weekend—should be perfect for a bike ride!  Join us this Saturday morning for a leisurely 2.5-hour ride (or longer if you prefer!) —less than 20 miles total, on the beautiful paved trails in and around the Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve just a few minutes east of Atlanta.
  These trails are suitable for riders of all experience levels and bikes of all styles.  If you have (or can borrow) a road-style bike or mountain bike or perhaps an inexpensive Walmart “hybrid,” by all means please join us.
  We'll have free parking by the Arabia Mtn Nature Center building. Everyone is encouraged to bring a picnic lunch and an iced-down drink or two in a small cooler or bag which we can leave in our vehicles during the ride.  After our ride we'll gather for about a half hour in the picnic area near our vehicles for these much-deserved calories and refreshments.  If you have extra of a particular item, we encourage sharing and sampling at these friendly AOC picnics.
 
WHEN & WHERE?  We’ll gather with our bikes at 9:00 AM by the Nature Center building—see detailed directions below.  Look for me (Charlie) with my bike by the bulletin board kiosk adjoining the free parking lot.  I'll be wearing a white Atlanta Outdoor Club T-shirt and black & white bicycle helmet.

RIDE PLAN:  After introducing one another, signing our AOC waiver forms, and making sure that all our bikes are trail-ready we’ll depart from beside the Nature Center building at about 9:20 AM and head southward to Panola Mountain State Park, then back to the Nature Center via the same general route, with perhaps a couple of short spur detours—about 20 miles total.  We'll stop occasionally to regroup, adjust clothing and to enjoy and photograph the scenery and wildlife.  Feel free to split from our group or head back to the Nature Center whenever you like, but please let Charlie know if and when you’re splitting.  For those of us who may want a bit more of a workout after our midday picnic, we can ride northward from the Nature Center to the Stonecrest Mall vicinity and back—about 6 miles extra.

POST-RIDE ARABIA HIKING OPTION:   Another great option, esp. if you haven't been to Arabia Mountain before, is to hike one or more of the scenic free trails which fan out from the Nature Center. Coincidentally, Richard Zalik will be leading an AOC hike on some of them this Friday afternoon, Oct 22.

MORE ABOUT the ARABIA BIKE TRAIL:  If you're familiar with the Silver Comet Trail (NW of Atlanta) the Arabia Mountain Trail is a similar (though generally hillier) multi-use paved scenic trail about 20 miles in total length built to the high standards of the "PATH Foundation."  It extends from the town of Lithonia and Stonecrest Mall on its north end (both just off I-20 Exit #74) and Panola Mtn State Park on its southern end.
FOR a nice DOWNLOADABLE MAP of RIDEABLE PAVED TRAILS & CONNECTING ROADWAY LOOPS in the ARABIA MOUNTAIN VICINITY go to:
http://georgiabikes.org/Portals/57ad7180-c5e7-49f5-b282-c6475cdb7ee7/Arabia-Davidson%20Cycling%20Routes.pdf

FOR the PATH FOUNDATION'S official ARABIA MTN TRAIL MAP go to:
http://www.pathfoundation.org/pathfoundationfiles/ArabiaRockdale.pdf

FOR more on the DAVIDSON-ARABIA MOUNTAIN NATURE PRESERVE and its hiking trails go to:
http://books.google.com/books?id=wi-aHmpX9xkC&pg=PA217&lpg=PA220&ots=AQW90Onz9D&dq=arabia+%22south+lake+trail%22&output=html

RAIN OR SHINE EVENT!  The forecast calls for great weather all this weekend.  If a few showers were to be forecast for a ride, we would normally still go ahead with it, and carry emergency rain gear along.  For AOC bike rides in general, if the ride has to be canceled for any reason the ride leader would email everyone by the night before and post "cancelled" beside the event posting on the AOC home page.  

ARABIA MOUNTAIN is in the SE corner of DeKalb County (east of Atlanta near Lithonia, GA and I-20).  We’ll meet at 9:00 AM at the "Nature Center" parking lot of the Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve.  (This lot adjoins the Arabia Nature Center building and is closer to I-20 than the other "south" parking lot where AOC hikes sometimes meet.)

1) From Atlanta or I-285 proceed eastbound on I-20 and get off to your Right at Exit #74 ("Evans Mill Rd/Lithonia").

2) Take the 1.3-mile-long exit ramp and access road STRAIGHT AHEAD to its end at the traffic light where Evans Mill Rd crosses underneath I-20.  (AVOID BEARING RIGHT off the ramp at the first "Evans Mill" opportunity!)

3) Turn Right at the traffic light onto Evans Mill Road and go just 0.1 mile to the next traffic light.

4) At that light go straight ahead onto Woodrow Drive (avoiding the right turn to stay on Evans Mill or the left turn onto Mall Pkwy) and continue another 0.8 mile to the stop sign at Klondike Road.

5) Turn Right onto Klondike Road and in about 1 mile you will pass through a traffic circle at Rockland Road.  On the opposite side of the circle continue straight ahead on Klondike Road and go only about 0.25 mile beyond the circle to the Arabia Mountain Nature Center on your right—the STAR on the map below. Park for free anywhere you like in the gravel and grass parking lot adjoining the Nature Center.

6) Look for me (Charlie) with my bike at the roofed bulletin-board kiosk between the parking lot and the Nature Center building.

IF YOU'D LIKE TO USE google.com/maps to prepare a custom map or directions from your point of origin to the Arabia Mtn Nature Center (or for your vehicle's GPS nav system) you can input the following address as your destination:
3787 Klondike Rd, Lithonia, GA 30038

Free Event with Free Parking!  Just bring your own bike, helmet & picnic lunch.