Climbing Stone Mountain near Atlanta

 Just east of Atlanta, GA is a granite mountain called Stone Mountain. I had a post showing the carving on one side of the mountain recently, as well as the covered bridge and grist mill. The weather was so pretty I decided to walk up the mountain and share some photos.

I took my son up this hike when he was younger, but when I asked my daughter if she wanted to climb Stone Mountain, she envisioned rock climbing and repelling up the carved side! She declined going. Fortunately, there is a gentler slope to the other side of the mountain. I like to go in the park at the back gate, turn right and then the walk begins from a parking lot there. There are restrooms and water at the bottom and at the top. There is also a snack bar at the top and picnic tables about half way up under a pavilion.

The weekend after Labor Day one of the largest craft shows is held here at the park and it is named after these daisies...The Yellow Daisy Festival.

 This is a Confederate memorial (the carvings on the mountain are Confederate generals), so the battle flags from the Confederacy are displayed. It is part of history.

 It is a beautiful walk but you do have to watch your step!

 I enjoy looking at the carvings people have made in the stone...many years old. I only saw one place where someone had used spray paint. While carving is graffiti also, somehow it is not as disgusting as spray paint.

 When you get near the top, the incline gets a little steep, so there are handrailings to use.

 There are also painted lines you can follow.

 One of the things I enjoy about this walk is the interesting people you meet. Today I talked to Stanford, pictured below. There are people from all over the world that visit here...he recently met three people from Russia and I overheard some people from Australia on this walk up.

 Downtown Atlanta skyline can be seen to the left and Midtown to the right. There is a sunrise service held here on Easter morning. I imagine a sunset would be glorious from up here also, with the skyline in the west.

 If you don't want to walk, there is a skylift that you can pay for and take up. I took it once and I remember someone getting sick on the ride. The antennae at the top has Christmas lights, forming a tree.

 On the lake above, you can see the steamboat and the bell tower. Below, if you have rocks, water and a boy, they are going to mix!

 The top is such a peaceful place. Sometimes it is very windy but today it was calm, clear and beautiful.

I decided that since the leaves were so pretty, I would get another shot of the grist mill. They were, however, shooting a movie scene there, so I could not get to the grist mill, but I did take some of the movie set. I will have to go see the movie when it comes to the theatre to see this scene!

 Above is the scene with the actors and extras. You can see the microphone in the foreground. Below is the monitor showing what the camera is recording. I think I would have loved doing movies!

 But, I moved on before I got in trouble for snooping around and visited the bells...trust me, I can be brazen.

 As you can see above, the bells were a gift from Coca Cola and were used in the World's Fair in the 1960's. I remember a girl from my school class went to New York for that and I was so impressed. I later went to the World's Fair in Knoxville in the 1980's (not so impressed). There are concerts at the bells as well as tolling at certain times on the hour. There are over 700 bells, so the sound is quite impressive.

 The park is gearing up for the holiday season and snowflake lane is in place. We used to always take our kids there for their visit to Santa. Many memories at this park!

Hope you enjoyed this visit of the walk up Stone Mountain and surrounding areas.