The Arabia Mountain Trail is located in the Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area about 20 minutes southeast of Atlanta GA. As a longtime Atlanta area resident, I was surprised that I had never heard of this hiking area before.
Now, I didn’t really know where the trailhead started so I messed up and ended up hiking more than I anticipated. Google maps took me to the Nature Center Trailhead which is a stop on the paved bike loop in the area. I got my bearings and figured it was just a mile down the bike trail to the Arabia Mountain trailhead. No big deal. Unfortunately, I went the wrong way and didn’t figure it out until I made it to the Vaughters Farm trailhead one mile in the opposite direction.
I’m about to go the wrong way!
I hoofed it back (note take the left fork from the Nature Center trailhead next time) and started going the correct way this time. After about half a mile, I took another left down the Klondike Spur which was an elevated wooden boardwalk. It was noisy as it followed the Klondike Road. Finally after another half mile I arrived at the Aware Nature Center which is where I should have started to begin with.
Headed the right way now.
The Boardwalk on the Klondike Spur
The trail got interesting now as I stepped out onto the exposed granite and followed the massive cairns. You could see where the granite had been quarried in places and water was flowing or puddled from the rains the day before.
Finally made the right trailhead
The beginning of the Arabia Mountain Trail
Cairns
You can see where the granite was quarried.
Now that I was in the open you could see it was a beautiful blue sky Sunday and I quickly ascended Arabia Mountain. Mountain actually may be generous , it was more of a granite outcropping hill. The trailhead is at 796 feet above sea level at the summit is at 955 feet above sea level.
Starting to climb.
The views were nice but the elevation was not high enough to see the Atlanta skyline or even nearby Stone Mountain. The summit however covered a few acres I would guess and was fun to explore. I was excited to find a geological survey marker!
Panoramic view from the summit
The actual summit
Geological Survey Marker
Exploring the summit.
After finishing up my exploring, I descended rapidly, followed the boardwalk and bike trail and soon was back to my car. What could have been a 1.2 mile hike I had turned into about 5.2 miles. It was a beautiful day so it was all good.
Thanks for reading. rk
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