A Fun-Filled Day at Kolomoki Mounds State Park
Anytime that I'm afforded an opportunity to get out and spend time in a Georgia State Park, it is a good time. Furthermore, anytime that I'm able to take the family, as well as our trail dogs, Walker and Spencer, it is a great time! Additionally, if I'm able to go out to a Georgia State Park for the purpose of adding a stamp for the Georgia State Park's Geo-challenge, it is a superb day, indeed! That being said, today's post will cover that superb day spent Geocaching and hiking at Kolomoki Mounds State Park yesterday.
The first order of business (pleasure) was to find the State Park sponsored Geocache...a four stage multi-cache. And while I'm still not a huge fan of multi-caches, I must admit that I am being won over, slowly, but surely. Today's case was a brilliant execution of a multi-cache in that you were required to read historical markers at various sites for clues that ultimately would lead to a four digit combination to unlock the coveted "ammo-can" at the Welcome Center/Museum. Having concluded the four stages of the Geocache, we had also completed the Indian Mounds Tour. The mounds were interesting to look at and the narratives were chocked full of historical significance. Not only was this adventure fun, but we were able to log our 19th Georgia State Park Geo-challenge stamp. Call it "Creative Learning" if you'd like. Read more about Georgia State Park's Geo-Challenge here: Geo-Challenge
Once we completed our Geocache, we started out touring the park. The first area to catch our attention was the campground situated on Lake Kolomoki, and since our trail dog Walker loves to swim, we decided to take a break and allow him to do just that! As far as the campground goes, the park offers 24 campsites with a central bathhouse, a disposal station, and water and electrical hook-ups. We were particularly fond of the campsites directly overlooking the water...I think there may have been 8-10 of them and I'm sure they were the "prime" locations!
Once swim time was over, we loaded up and headed over to the other side of the park for a picnic and rest time prior to starting out on the Trillium Trail (Lake Nature Trail). We noticed that there are ample picnic tables and shelters throughout the park. Also, we also noticed two or three playground areas, a swimming pool, and a miniature golf course. The pool and miniature golf course did not seem to be operating at the time we were there, however. There is also a beach area located on Lake Kolomoki, as well as paddle boat and canoe rentals.
Within the confines of Kolomoki, you'll find four hiking trails totaling slightly more than 5 miles in length. The Park brochure lists the trails as: Trillium Trail - 1.25 mile loop; Spruce Pine Trail - Part of Georgia's Southern Birding Trail and is 2.5 miles in length; White Oak Trail - 1.5 mile trail that circles the mounds and passes through the village area, which was arranged in a horseshoe shape around the mounds. The Indian Mounds Tour is also listed, but I'm unsure of its length. This unblazed trail leads to all seven mounds and a cemetery, which are further explained by markers along the way.
After a brief picnic, we all set off on the 1.25 mile loop Trillium Trail (aka Lake Kolomoki Nature Trail). It was a great plus for us as I had recently purchased the Geocaching app for my iPhone, and it came in handy. As we entered the trail, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that there were eight Geocaches located on the trail. A big shout-out goes out to the Chattahoochee Valley Cachers and the Georgia Geocachers Association for making these available! My excitement quickly turned to frustration, however, as I found myself attempting to hold the leash of one of my trail dogs, follow coordinates, take pictures, and handle my trekking pole. Quite frankly, I found it to be a bit too much and after finding the first three caches, we simply decided to focus on the trail ahead of us. It was the right decision and necessary for me to keep my sanity.
Throughout the trail, I was reminded of a trail that we hiked at Smithgall Woods State Park in North Georgia. The different climbs and descents were reminiscent of the hills in the North part of our state, not the South. Even so, we were immediately captivated by the variety of communities in which we traversed. From the moistness of a flood plain to the the uplands with hardwood and then a dramatic descent around a miniature gorge of sorts, we were simply awestruck with what we saw. Clearly, we felt as though we were traveling on more than one trail and it definitely wasn't your typical flatland trail of South Georgia. At times the trail was narrow and rutty. Other times, the path opened up and flattened out. Still, there were other times when we ascended fairly sharply and of course, we endure a rather sharp descent about 2/3s of the way through. The scenery was brilliant as we observed magnolia trees, sweetgum trees, muscadine grapes, pine trees, hickory, and sparkleberry.
At the trail's conclusion, I must confess that I felt as though my energy was zapped right out of my body. I was tired, but it was a satisfied kind of tired. Even though our trail dogs both ran out of energy before us (I carried them a time or two), we both feel that the trail is definitely dog friendly. And if I was to rate the difficulty on a scale of 1-5, I'd have to give it a 3 1/2, depending on the temperature. On this day, it was in the mid 80's. The trail was indeed pleasurable and will be one in which we recommend.
If you have time, please take time to view this slideshow that I've created with many of the other pictures not included in this post. As always, feel free to comment and don't forget to get out and enjoy the Life Outside Your Door.
You can find out more about Kolomoki Mounds by clicking here: Kolomoki Mounds State Park
The first order of business (pleasure) was to find the State Park sponsored Geocache...a four stage multi-cache. And while I'm still not a huge fan of multi-caches, I must admit that I am being won over, slowly, but surely. Today's case was a brilliant execution of a multi-cache in that you were required to read historical markers at various sites for clues that ultimately would lead to a four digit combination to unlock the coveted "ammo-can" at the Welcome Center/Museum. Having concluded the four stages of the Geocache, we had also completed the Indian Mounds Tour. The mounds were interesting to look at and the narratives were chocked full of historical significance. Not only was this adventure fun, but we were able to log our 19th Georgia State Park Geo-challenge stamp. Call it "Creative Learning" if you'd like. Read more about Georgia State Park's Geo-Challenge here: Geo-Challenge
Once we completed our Geocache, we started out touring the park. The first area to catch our attention was the campground situated on Lake Kolomoki, and since our trail dog Walker loves to swim, we decided to take a break and allow him to do just that! As far as the campground goes, the park offers 24 campsites with a central bathhouse, a disposal station, and water and electrical hook-ups. We were particularly fond of the campsites directly overlooking the water...I think there may have been 8-10 of them and I'm sure they were the "prime" locations!
Once swim time was over, we loaded up and headed over to the other side of the park for a picnic and rest time prior to starting out on the Trillium Trail (Lake Nature Trail). We noticed that there are ample picnic tables and shelters throughout the park. Also, we also noticed two or three playground areas, a swimming pool, and a miniature golf course. The pool and miniature golf course did not seem to be operating at the time we were there, however. There is also a beach area located on Lake Kolomoki, as well as paddle boat and canoe rentals.
Within the confines of Kolomoki, you'll find four hiking trails totaling slightly more than 5 miles in length. The Park brochure lists the trails as: Trillium Trail - 1.25 mile loop; Spruce Pine Trail - Part of Georgia's Southern Birding Trail and is 2.5 miles in length; White Oak Trail - 1.5 mile trail that circles the mounds and passes through the village area, which was arranged in a horseshoe shape around the mounds. The Indian Mounds Tour is also listed, but I'm unsure of its length. This unblazed trail leads to all seven mounds and a cemetery, which are further explained by markers along the way.
After a brief picnic, we all set off on the 1.25 mile loop Trillium Trail (aka Lake Kolomoki Nature Trail). It was a great plus for us as I had recently purchased the Geocaching app for my iPhone, and it came in handy. As we entered the trail, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that there were eight Geocaches located on the trail. A big shout-out goes out to the Chattahoochee Valley Cachers and the Georgia Geocachers Association for making these available! My excitement quickly turned to frustration, however, as I found myself attempting to hold the leash of one of my trail dogs, follow coordinates, take pictures, and handle my trekking pole. Quite frankly, I found it to be a bit too much and after finding the first three caches, we simply decided to focus on the trail ahead of us. It was the right decision and necessary for me to keep my sanity.
Throughout the trail, I was reminded of a trail that we hiked at Smithgall Woods State Park in North Georgia. The different climbs and descents were reminiscent of the hills in the North part of our state, not the South. Even so, we were immediately captivated by the variety of communities in which we traversed. From the moistness of a flood plain to the the uplands with hardwood and then a dramatic descent around a miniature gorge of sorts, we were simply awestruck with what we saw. Clearly, we felt as though we were traveling on more than one trail and it definitely wasn't your typical flatland trail of South Georgia. At times the trail was narrow and rutty. Other times, the path opened up and flattened out. Still, there were other times when we ascended fairly sharply and of course, we endure a rather sharp descent about 2/3s of the way through. The scenery was brilliant as we observed magnolia trees, sweetgum trees, muscadine grapes, pine trees, hickory, and sparkleberry.
At the trail's conclusion, I must confess that I felt as though my energy was zapped right out of my body. I was tired, but it was a satisfied kind of tired. Even though our trail dogs both ran out of energy before us (I carried them a time or two), we both feel that the trail is definitely dog friendly. And if I was to rate the difficulty on a scale of 1-5, I'd have to give it a 3 1/2, depending on the temperature. On this day, it was in the mid 80's. The trail was indeed pleasurable and will be one in which we recommend.
If you have time, please take time to view this slideshow that I've created with many of the other pictures not included in this post. As always, feel free to comment and don't forget to get out and enjoy the Life Outside Your Door.
This is a totally awesome post!
ReplyDeleteGreat job!
Thanks for the comment. I would like to do more like this, but it seems that my work hours are impeding too much on my leisure time. Kolomoki was great, though.
ReplyDelete