Christmastime at Mason Mill Park! A balmy midday 2-hour walk.

EVENT PLAN:  Balmy blue-sky weather is expected to return to Atlanta this Wednesday, with afternoon temperatures in the 60s.  Hope you can join us for this scenic midday 2-hour nature walk here in NE Atlanta!
  We'll meet at 12:00 Noon 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 2:00 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.
  I'll bring my guitar & tambourine along and when we arrive back at the cars (for any who'd like to stick around with me for 5 or 10 minutes) we can "tie a bow" on our hike by singing a few "Holiday songs" - perhaps Jingle Bells, Sleigh Ride and "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire......?"

ABOUT the PARKS & TRAILS:  Mason Mill and Medlock are two pretty adjoining DeKalb County parks just east of Clairmont Road near Emory University.  They're conveniently connected 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.  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.  Another 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 Left onto Clairmont Road (US-23 southward toward Decatur) 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 and is 1/2 mi north of the VA Hospital).

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

4. Look for the "Mason Mill Park" sign almost immediately on your left and turn Left 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
  33.8079,-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!