Cochran Shoals

Back in April, me and Heather hiked all over Cochran Shoals.

She runs and runs, but rarely hikes, so it was a rare treat to be in the woods with her.

We parked at the Cochran Shoals lot, followed the jogging trail for a while, then hung a left onto the hike-only trails south of the rest of the system. The trails run up and down along the ridges south of Gunby Creek, before eventually kind-of just following the creek back to the jogging trail.

It had been forever since I'd been out there, and the trails were a good bit steeper than I remembered, but not too difficult. We didn't exactly have a leisurely time, but we could talk the whole time.

Here's Gunby Creek itself:

And me, chilling at the creek.

When we got back to the jogging trail, we still had plenty of daylight, and plenty of energy, so we headed towards the main trail system. About halfway to it, I remembered that there are ruins up on the hill to the left that you can't really see in the summer, but are usually visible in winter. So, I kept an eye out for them, and yes! I could see them.

"Do you feel adventurous today?"

"Sure!"

After poking around a bit, we ended up finding a bit of a trail leading up to the ruins, so it wasn't total bushwhacking. But, it was definitely Adventure.

It turned out that the ruins were just behind someone's backyard. From the trail, I couldn't see that there was even a neighborhood there, but up on the hill, you're right there.

It looked like a popular spot!

After that, we still had energy and daylight, so we climbed up to the Cemetery...

...and took some fairly sketchy trails back down to the jogging trail.

By then, it was getting noticeably darker outside, so we started heading back to the car. I remember being chilly and having to crank the heat when we got going.

It's funny... As much as I've explored North Georgia, I've explored comparatively little of the Chattahoochee NRA, and Kennesaw Mountain, despite living right there for the past 10 years. I think I need to get out there more. Maybe I can convince Heather to explore with me.