Mason Mill Park near Emory: A balmy midday 2-1/2 hour walk.

EVENT PLAN:  Balmy dry weather is expected this Saturday, with temperatures in the 60s & 70s and virtually no chance of rain.  Hope you can join us for this scenic midday 2-1/2 hour nature walk here in NE Atlanta near Emory University!

  We'll meet at 10:00 AM by the stone restroom building in Mason Mill Park's free parking lot—see detailed directions below.  After introductions we'll hike together via the pretty trail system to Medlock Park and back, stopping often to regroup and enjoy the scenery.  Our total distance will be about 4 miles with just one or two slightly steep sections.  By about 12:30 we should be back at our cars.  Feel free to "split" early from the group if you must - it's easy to return to the parking lot.
  Bring your well-behaved dog if you like, but please make sure that he or she is leashed and under your control at all times.
  For those of us (me included!) who have also signed up for Richard Zalik's 2:00 PM AOC "Hahn Woods at Emory" hike, this hike should "segue" nicely with it, with just enough time between 12:30 and 2:00 for lunch; perhaps at the Wendy's that is just a 5-minute drive from both trailheads in Toco Hill Shopping Center.

ABOUT the PARKS & TRAILS:  Mason Mill and Medlock are two pretty adjoining DeKalb County parks on the opposite side of Clairmont Road from Emory University and the VA Hospital.  The parks conveniently connect with one another via a network of scenic shady hiking/biking trails and boardwalks.  The mile-long South Peachtree Creek Trail is the main trail that links them, and like the "Silver Comet" it was designed and built to the high standards of the "PATH Foundation."  The trail features a half-mile-long raised wooden deck through the forest canopy above the big rocky creek.  The most recently completed portion of this trail is a high wooden walkway and deck that cross the railroad tracks and give hikers nice views of ruins of the early-20th-Century "Decatur Waterworks."
  Lots of nice creekside spur trails branch from the PATH trail into the surrounding forest and are fun to explore.
  We may include in the hike a third park, Ira Melton Park, whose half-mile-long white-blazed loop trail can normally be accessed easily from Mason Mill Park by walking across the creek on a few stepping stones.

FOR a COLOR MAP of SOUTH PEACHTREE CREEK TRAIL and its interconnecting DeKalb County parks (Mason Mill, Medlock and Ira Melton) click on this link:  http://pathfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/south-peachtree-creek-trail.pdf

FROM the "SPAGHETTI JUNCTION" I-85 / I-285 INTERCHANGE in NE METRO ATLANTA:

1. Take I-85 South toward Atlanta about 4 miles and get off at Exit #91 "Clairmont Road."

2. Turn southward onto Clairmont Road (toward Decatur; left under the bridge at the exit if you were on I-85 Southbound) and go about 2.3 miles to the traffic light at McConnell Drive.  (It's the next light south of the big Clairmont/ North Druid Hills intersection.  If you reach the huge VA Hospital you've gone too far!)

3. Turn Left onto McConnell Drive, go 0.1 mile ahead, then turn Right at the stop sign to stay on McConnell. (Note the small signs here for Mason Mill Park and DeKalb Tennis Center.)

4. Turn Left almost immediately at the "Mason Mill Park" sign into the large free parking lot.  We'll gather by the stone Restroom building.

STREET ADDRESS and LAT/LON COORDINATES of the Mason Mill Park parking lot where we'll meet:
  1322 McConnell Drive, Decatur, GA 30033
  33.8080,-84.3066
Either of the above may be useful in conjunction with the above Directions as your entered destination for GPS navigation or Google.com/maps.  For an online MAP of our Mason Mill Park meeting point and its vicinity simply click on the RED TEARDROP "Location" symbol atop this article.

Free Event with Free Parking!