Panola Mountain Summit Hike + Telescopic Sunspot Viewing!

IN a NUTSHELL:  This very special metro-Atlanta winter outing will feature both a solar observation session through a safely filtered telescope (weather permitting) and also a guided hike to the protected summit of Panola Mountain.  Between the two exciting activities we can enjoy a ("BYO") picnic lunch together at a nice spot near the Park Nature Center, so bring something appropriate to eat, drink, and perhaps to share.
  A very well-preserved "sister" of Stone Mountain a few miles to its north, Panola Mountain is a "well kept secret" with relatively few visitors.  Just 15 minutes from the east-side I-20/I-285 Interchange, the State Park is an easy drive from anywhere in the metro area.  (See detailed directions and GPS coordinates below.)

  The exposed-granite mountain within the State Park is a specially protected conservation area, and hiking to its summit is permitted only in the company of a ranger-naturalist through a special arrangement with the State Park.

  The Park charges a reasonable fee for their ranger-guided hikes: just $7 per person, payable individually when we arrive.  The fees go toward improvements in the Park's trails and other facilities.  (Each driver or carpool party will also need to pay the standard State Park $5.00 daily parking fee or display a valid GA State Parks annual Parking Pass.)

  Our AOC group will gather initially at 11:00 AM in the Park Nature Center where we'll greet one another, register with the Nature Center receptionist, enjoy the nice displays, and meet the volunteers and Park ranger-naturalist(s) who will host the solar viewing and hike.  The solar telescope viewing will be offered from 11 AM - 1 PM in a clearing near the Nature Center.  (Saturday's weather forecast expects mostly clear skies, so I'm optimistic that we'll indeed see some amazing sunspots and solar prominences!) At an appropriate time between Noon and 1 PM we can enjoy our picnic lunches together at or near the Nature Center - then our Panola Mtn summit hike will begin at about 2 PM.  It will be ~4 miles in length with our uphill ascents totalling about 800 feet in elevation gain.  We can expect to be back at our vehicles by about 4:00 PM

PANOLA'S UNIQUE GEOLOGY & BIOLOGY:   We'll stop often at scenic spots during the hike to observe and discuss the mountain's amazing geology and its rare flora and fauna.
  Like Stone Mountain, Panola is an igneous "monadnock" that took shape about 300 million years ago when huge bubbles of molten magma oozed upward into preexisting rock and earth. After they cooled and hardened, these bubbles slowly became exposed as more than 5 miles of softer rock above them eroded away, leaving the colossal granite domes that we see today.
  Over the eons, a wide variety of plants began to grow on the weathered granite surfaces and their surrounding terrain, creating habitats for rare flora and fauna that are unique to such rare rocky ecosystems. Notable is the "Diamorpha" succulent whose colonies of thousands of tiny plants thrive in flat sandy "solution pits" atop the mountain, turn brilliant red in late winter, produce lovely white blossoms each spring, and sprout anew from their seed the following winter.

FOR MORE INFO on PANOLA MOUNTAIN:  Visit the State Park's official website at the following link and click on "Hiking," etc. under "Activities" for more details:
http://www.gastateparks.org/PanolaMountain
For an interesting account and photos of a visitor's April 2010 experience on a guided hike to the summit go to this link:
http://urbanbaboon.blogspot.com/2010/04/panola-mountain.html

PANOLA MOUNTAIN STATE PARK is about a 15-minute drive from the I-20/ I-285 interchange on Atlanta's east side. You "Northsiders" bear in mind that it's perhaps an additional 25 minutes to that I-20 interchange via I-285.  SUGGESTION: Re-zero your odometer at each instruction below and pay close attention to the mileages given and driven.

FROM the I-20/ I-285 INTERCHANGE on ATLANTA'S EAST SIDE:

1.  Take I-20 East just 1 mile (toward Augusta) and exit to your right at the first opportunity at "Wesley Chapel Rd/Snapfinger Rd", Exit #68."

2. Turn Right onto Wesley Chapel Road and go just 0.2 mile to the traffic light at Snapfinger Road.

3. Turn Left onto Snapfinger Road and go about 7.0 miles to the "Panola Mountain State Park" entrance on your left. (Snapfinger Rd becomes concurrent with GA-155 en route to the Park.)

4. Turn Left into the State Park, continue to the parking lot about 0.2 mile ahead and park near the Nature Center. (It's just beyond the far end of parking lot on your right). Each driver who doesn't display a valid GA State Parks annual Parking Pass will need to pay the $5.00 daily parking fee in a self-service envelope and hang the tear-off receipt on your rear-view mirror.

5. We'll gather at 11:00 AM inside the Nature Center where we each can pay our $7 fee to the receptionist and sign a State Park hike waiver form.

LAT/LON COORDINATES of PARK NATURE CENTER:   May be useful in conjunction with the above directions as your entered GPS or Google.com/maps destination:
  33.6258,-84.1715

GPS USERS BEWARE!  Entering  the generic Internet park name, street address or lat/ lon coordinates as your GPS or Google Maps destination may route you to a dead end in the adjoining Golf Course!  Note the correct directions above, esp. for the final 2 miles into the Park.

PARK NATURE CENTER Phone Number: 770-389-7801.  

Your $7 hike fee (for our Ranger-led hike to Panola's summit) is payable individually in cash to the Nature Center receptionist.
  As mentioned in the Directions above, please also be prepared to pay the cash self-serve $5-per-vehicle parking fee if you don't display a GA State Parks annual pass.

This guided hike is usually not canceled due to rain, but if it has to be canceled for any reason (e.g. severe weather) we'll do our best to notify everyone ASAP prior to the event (by email and/or phone) and post "Canceled" in the above online event announcement title.  We are under no financial obligation to the Park or to the AOC if the event is canceled.