Sunrise at Arabia Mountain! Nature & Wildlife Walk with the Audubon Society

IN A NUTSHELL:  Crystal clear blue-sky fall weather and comfortable temperatures are expected this Saturday morning, and what better place to enjoy the brilliant fall colors and a beautiful sunrise than Arabia Mountain!
   For this FREE AOC "participation event" we'll join expert naturalists of the Atlanta Audubon Society for a leisurely 2- to 3-hour birding, wildlife and nature walk.  Some of the preserve's trails will take us over wide expanses of bare rock and others through its lush forests, open fields and wetlands.  Mid-October is a perfect time for this kind of event, esp. since we're likely to observe rarely seen bird species that are passing southward through the Atlanta area on their fall migration.

WHEN & WHERE?  Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve is a huge DeKalb County Park about a half-hour drive east of downtown Atlanta via I-20, and just 15 minutes from the east-side I-20/I-285 interchange. (Please follow carefully my directions below.)  We'll have free parking and park entrance at the preserve's Nature Center.  Our AOC "subgroup" will gather initially at 7:30 AM near the Nature Center's outdoor bulletin board kiosk.  Look for me, Charlie, probably wearing my green & white Atlanta Outdoor Club T-shirt.

NATURE WALK PLAN:  After welcoming and introducing one another in our AOC "subgroup," we'll join our Audubon Society friends and their other guests from the public at large.  Robby Astrove, the Arabia Mountain professional naturalist, will guide us, departing from the Nature Center at about 7:45.  We'll stop often along the way to observe, discuss and photograph the beautiful birds, other wildlife, native flora and fascinating geology.  The hundreds of acres of rocky outcrops at Arabia Mountain are known to have been originally formed by molten "bubbles" deep inside the earth about 400 million years ago.  By comparison the granite of its nearby "siblings," Stone Mountain and Panola Mountai, is believed to be about 300 million years old.

  Feel free to split from our group whenever you like, but please let the event leaders know if and when you’re splitting.  We expect to be back at the parking lot by about 10:30 AM.

FROM the I-20/ I-285 INTERCHANGE on ATLANTA'S EAST SIDE (This interchange is about 10 miles east of downtown Atlanta):

1.  Proceed eastbound on I-20 about 5 miles (outside I-285 toward Augusta) and exit 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 second 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 another traffic light.

4.  At that light continue straight ahead onto Woodrow Drive 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.  Stay on Klondike Road for another 0.25 mile beyond the circle and look for the" Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve" nature center on your right.

6.  Turn Right into the Nature Center's gravel parking lot where we can park for free.

7.  We'll gather by the roofed bulletin-board kiosk between the parking lot and the Nature Center building.

FOR a MAP of our DAVIDSON-ARABIA PARKING LOT VICINITY:  Click on the above red "Event Location" icon.  You can also use MapQuest, Google.com/maps, or your vehicle's GPS System for custom directions from your point of origin.  Use as your destination the following Nature Center address or Lat/Lon coordinates:
3787 Klondike Rd, Lithonia, GA 30038
33.6723, -84.1161

Free Event with Free Parking!