Hints of Spring: Cochran Mill Trail

Originally, the hike the weekend of February 25th was scheduled for Saturday morning. Because of scheduling conflicts, I had to attend a group meeting Saturday morning, so the hike was moved to Sunday, February 26th. I woke up still wearing the dress and definitely hung over from a wonderful time at a beautiful wedding the night before. When Brandy woke me up at seven AM, I did not think I would make it on a hike. Luckily I knew it was an easy one and was less deterred for that reason. A few hours later, I got dressed in hiking gear and wondered into my roommates room and we headed out around ten AM to Cochran Mill Nature Center.

The nature center is closed on Sundays, but you can still hike in the surrounding areas. We parked outside the closed gate. When we left the house, I, of course, had to run back in for something. On my way in, I hit the panic button instead of the off button for the alarm; a mistake I used to make regularly but have not made in quite a few months. The phone to the house hasn't been working, and the alarm system is the only reason we pay our phone bill. I turned it off with the password and hoped that the cops wouldn't show up. However, as we were driving away, a cop seemed to be heading towards our house.

We all climbed up the far right side of the rock

Once we got to the nature center, I had to spend a few minutes on the phone talking to ADT. Meanwhile, my roommate, Melissa decided to ascend a nearby rock. I like to climb things, so after I was done telling the security sytem people that everything was all good, I too climbed the rock. We sat up there for a while, and Brandy was jealous. She paced back and forth, and then with one big leap, started to climb up the side of the rock. Melissa and I busted out laughing in disbelief at my dog's rock climbing abilities. After that, she went up and down with ease. We eventually decided to begin the 3 mile hike around the nature center. I forgot my pedometer, again, so I do not have the total miles that we did.


Address:
Cochran Mill Nature Center and Arboretum, Inc.
6300 Cochran Mill Road
Palmetto, GA 30265

 Difficulty: 

As you enter the park, there is a lake and a log cabin, which is the nature center. There is a sign where the trail begins. After that, there are not very many signs, but they do have trail markers. Some of the markers are labeled as station numbers. I'm not sure what goes on at the stations, but I have a feeling its learning. I actually did this hike hung over. It wasn't very strenuous. Basically, it was flat, short and easy to follow. This hike is not for a work out, unless you are one of those crazy trail runners.

Natural Beauty: 
This trail is full of beautiful surprises. after a very short stint in the Georgia woods, the trail becomes a large flat rock. It then opens up to water falling over the ruins of, something. A little bit later you come across the leftovers of, what I think is, an old Dam; it's clearly not working anymore. Over three miles, this hike has a lot of interesting changes in the scenery. I liked the mix of past and nature. We didn't see a single person on the hike, so I highly recommend doing this hike on a Sunday when the nature center is closed.

There were hints of spring throughout the hike. Even as we turned onto Cochran Mill Road, we saw a large tree covered in white blooms. It is February, and a little early for full blown spring, but it seems to be approaching. Seeing the little purple flowers popping up along the hike made me want to start learning more about Georgia wild flowers. Maybe I'll put that on my list of things to do.

Dog Friendliness

Brandy was off-leash the entire time, even while I was finishing up my phone call with ADT. However, we were near a major road, so I wouldn't recommend it.

She ran freely across the open rocks, but she was intimidated by the roaring waterfalls. They weren't very tall, nor very intimidating, but Brandy is a little baby. She is scared very easily. Regardless, she darted around easily on this hike. Per usual she would run far ahead, and then come back with a look that says "Come on guys, you'll never guess what's up here!" Melissa and I spent a good portion of the hike speaking for her. She did slip a little on the rocks along the way, luckily making her more careful. There was plenty of water for her to drink, and she even found the muddiest water possible in which to swim.

Picnicablility

The trail was not very long, so its hard to stop halfway through for a picnic, however you could easily spread out a blanket on one of the large rocks near the running water and enjoy a long break. If your goal was mainly to find a nice spot for a picnic, this hike has plenty. We chose to eat cupcakes from Dulce Vegan Bakery in Kirkwood on the rock by the parking lot, especially once we learned that Brandy could join us up there. I had an oreo cupcake, oreos are one of my faorite cookies, and Melissa enjoyed a vanilla cupcake with chocolate icing. We are good sharers, so we both enjoyed a few bites of each. Its hard for me to be friends with someone unless they are willing to share their food with me.

Getting out on a beautiful sunny day, even after I had over indulged in alcohol the night before, was very rewarding. Afterwards I was energized to do even more productive activities. Brandy was not very tired, and wanted to run around in the backyard as soon as we got back, but I think she still had a good time. I recommend Cochran mill as an easy, short place to get out and enjoy the out doors and still have enough of the day left to do other things.




Mental Enrichment
Dogs can rock climb.