Sandy Creek Park Trail/Botanical Garden Lights – Athens, GA – 7.25 Miles

Let's Take-a-Hike at Sandy Creek Park and then head over to the State Botanical Garden for Winter WonderLights! This will be in two parts so you can do one or the other or both! We will pick a dinner spot for the in between as we get closer to the date.

Adventure #1 - Just about an hour’s drive East of Atlanta in Athens, GA, sits Lake Chapman. And looping it in its entirety is the Lakeside Trail. It’s a great trail, and for the majority of it the water is never more than 15 or so yards from the path. So, lots of good water views if that is your thing.

A couple things: Alltrails lists this hike at 7.9 miles but includes a spur that we will not be including. The park information lists the trail at 7.5 miles. But I think it is somewhere more like 7ish. Also, Alltrails lists the hike as easy. And certainly most sections are wide and quite tame. But there is a section at the north side that is rather narrow and has numerous small ups and downs. So, please keep that in mind when deciding if you wish to join this hike. Reviewing the trail info and comments in the Alltrails link below will also help.

Our general pace will be about 2.25 to 2.5 MPH. Not a sprint but not a crawl either. Entrance to the park is $2.00 per person. The hike will start at 1:00 pm, and I figure it will take us about 3.5 hours max with a few rests along the way. I do like to and will start events on time so please do not be late for the consideration of all attendees. We will meet in the parking lot at the Nature Center. It is to the right as you enter the park.

Below are some helpful informational links. Of course and as always, if you have any questions in advance please let me know and I will do my best to answer them.

Alltrails (general info about the trail itself):
Sandy Creek Lakeside Trail | Map, Guide - Georgia | AllTrails

General Park Information:
[Sandy Creek Park | Athens-Clarke County, GA - Official Website (accgov.com)](https://www.accgov.com/sandycreekpark)

Adventure #2 - State Botanical Garden of Georgia Winter WonderLights 6pm. We will head over to the State Botanical Garden and walk through their light display. Tickets for this event are $15 and can be purchased here: https://botgarden.uga.edu/wonderlightstickets/ Please make sure you purchase your ticket for the 6pm time slot. We will meet at the entrance.

Hope to see you there, and of course please remember that you will be participating entirely at your own risk as Suwanee Take-a-Hikers assumes absolutely no liability (nada, zero, zip, zilch, jack squat) for adverse events which may occur during meetups. Cheers! 😊