Leisurely Afternoon Hike at Frazier-Rowe Park & Briarlake Forest

Weather Update as of 9:30 AM Sunday:  We're definitely still going ahead with the event this afternoon although the forecast isn't as good as when I posted it 3 days ago.  It'll be about 50 degrees (still the expected warmest part of the day) and about a ~40 % chance of some of the current light rain continuing, so bring & carry a lightweight umbrella or poncho just in case you need it.  - Charlie

EVENT PLAN:  Nice hiking weather in the mid-50s is expected this Sunday afternoon, with partly sunny skies and not much likelihood of any rain. Hope you can  join us for this sequence of two leisurely paced hikes at Frazier-Rowe Park and Briarlake Forest.  Both are relatively new DeKalb County parks here in NE metro Atlanta that have quickly become award-winning "favorites."  Since their founding in ~2013 dozens of hard-working "Friends of the Parks" volunteers have built and continuously improved their extensive network of scenic trails - also host year-round monthly workdays to control invasive nonnative plants such as English ivy, Chinese privet and Japanese kudzu & thorny olive. 
  We'll explore most of the trails in both parks including several that display beautiful flowers & trees and many that meander along shady creeks, hills & valleys.  After the first hike at Frazier-Rowe we'll do a brief car caravan to Briarlake Forest for the 2nd one - driving NE just 2 miles via LaVista Rd & Briarlake Rd.  The above photo is of the historic 100-year-old farmhouse that's the centerpiece of the Briarlake Forest parking area & main trailhead.
  If there's enough interest after this 2nd hike we can also easily include an optional visit to nearby Mary Scott Nature Park.  It's on Briarcliff Rd, just a 1-1/2-mile drive northward toward I-85 from Briarlake Forest.

WHERE & WHEN? We'll meet a few minutes before 2:00 AM at the Frazier-Rowe Park trailhead.  See easy detailed directions below and for a zoomable map or satellite view click above on the square blue & green "Event Location" icon.  The shady trailhead and Park bulletin board are directly beside "Sprig" restaurant, on the wooded end of the free parking lot at Vista Grove Plaza shopping center.  We should have no problem finishing both hikes by 4:30.  Feel free to "split early" if you need to for any reason, but if so be sure to let me know where & when you're doing so - I can easily direct you back to your car.

CANINE COMPANIONS are OK.  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, and in your registration notes indicate it's size, breed, name, etc.

EXTRA INFORMATION ABOUT the PARKS:
Frazier-Rowe:  Named for two neighboring families of different ethnicity who lived in harmony there in the mid-20th century, Frazier-Rowe Park occupies about 12 acres of forest. Founded in 2013, its trail network and floral gardens, bridges and other structures have been built, planted and maintained by hundreds of hard-working local citizens and Boy Scout troops, etc.  Our "Friends of Frazier-Rowe Park" group was awarded a $10,000 "prize grant" for its excellent use of volunteerism  - affirming that ordinary people of all ages can make a big difference when working together toward a common goal. Frazier-Rowe hikers can also easily connect to the pretty trail system of the "Coralwood Nature Preserve " (about 10 more acres of the same forest adjoining Coralwood Elementary School.)  For more Frazier-Rowe info & photos click this link: http://frazier-rowepark.weebly.com/ 

Briarlake Forest's 20+ acres of shady old homestead property boasts numerous gigantic Oaks and Beeches, some thought to be perhaps 200 years old. The park's extensive network of hiking trails have been built since 2012 by our neighborhood volunteers and continue to be maintained by our "Friends" group - click the links below for details.  We encourage interested AOC members to pitch in with us as your time permits on our scheduled monthly "work days."  We can easily arrange to have you added to our email roster. For more Info & Photos click these 3 links:

http://briarlakefop .weebly.com/
http://briarl akecommunityforest.org/
http://briarl akecommunityforest.org/the-forest-and-its-future/

FROM I-85 CLAIRMONT RD EXIT (Exit #91) in NE Atlanta to our FRAZIER-ROWE PARK Meetup Spot:   (For a zoomable color MAP and satellite view of this spot and its vicinity click the square blue & green "Event Location" icon near the top of this article.)

1. From I-85 Exit #91 (GA-23, "Clairmont Rd") take Clairmont Road toward Decatur (south & slightly east) about 1.6 miles to the traffic light at LaVista Road.

2. Turn Left onto LaVista and go eastward 0.9 mile (THROUGH the next traffic light at Oak Grove Rd) to the small "Vista Grove Plaza" shopping center on your Left (at 2868 LaVista Rd).  Look for Sprig  and Subway restaurants on the end of the shopping center by the woods and park in that vicinity of the big lot.

3. We'll gather at the "Frazier-Rowe Park" bulletin board and trailhead on the edge of the woods - just a few feet from the Sprig restaurant entrance.  Please be on time, allowing for traffic.

LAT/LON COORDINATES of the Frazier-Rowe Park trailhead where we'll meet: (GPS or Google.com/maps users may wish to enter these map coordinates as your Destination Address, being sure to include the comma & minus sign.)

  33.8256, -84.2893

Free Event with Free Parking at each Park!