Awana Boys to Stone Mountain
October 2, 2010
We had a beautiful clear day for a hike up Stone Mountain. Five boys took the hike with Rod and are shown here on top of the mountain with the city of Atlanta behind them, 15 miles to the west. In front are Jacobi Brown, Reginald Brown, Logan Todd and Gage Marsh. In back is Zi'Keith.
 | We started the day with our pancake breakfast at the church. Around the table are Zi'Keith, Joshua's friend, Joshua Kelley, Logan Todd, Reginald Brown and Jacobi Brown. Joshua and his friend had a ballgame and couldn't go to the Mountain with us. Johnny Huffman, Stan Johnson, Scott Kelley and Brenda were there for breakfast. Gage joined us later. |
We drove to Stone Mountain Park and briefly explored the refurbished park exhibit on the geology of the mountain. Then the boys posed on the track of the Stone Mountain Railroad as we crossed it to the 1.3 mile trail that leads to the top fo the mountain. |  |
 |  The boys headed up the rock trail which is gentle at first. We passed lots of yellow daisies. One of our landmarks on the way up is the bubble gum post, with generations of offerings of gum. Reginald, Zi'Keith and Jacobi take a look. Some of the gum is 8 ft up! |
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We made it to the halfway point of the trail and stopped at the shelter for water and apples. Then Gage and Logan found a big stone barbeque grill and climbed up on top of it ot eat their apples. About this time we dubbed them "the monkeys" and it stuck for the rest of the trip, although we were also tempted by "the baboons".
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If you have boys out on the mountain, you don't have to entertain them - they will find something to entertain themselves. They got a big kick out of jumping across from rock to rock in this place just off the main trail.
From the solid rock of Stone Mountain you had a clear view of downtown Atlanta to the west.
We were blessed with a very clear day and you could see the whole sweep of the city in the distance.
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Jacobi Brown explored a cave formed by large overlapping rock slabs. Then Logan Todd and Gage Marsh followed suit. They enjoyed climbing over the jumble of rocks at this height, nearly to the top of the mountain.
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The rock ledges around the cave provided great places to climb and explore.
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Though we had dubbed him one of the "monkeys", Gage bounded about the rocks like a mountain goat. Since we were calling Gage and Logan the monkeys, Jacobi and Zi'Keith fancied themselves the mountain wolves, so came up the bare rock near the top howling like wolves.
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Jacobi crosses one of the bare rock areas near the top of the mountain. Gage, Logan and Reginald explored another rocky area off to the side of the main trail.
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We made it up the last stretch of open rock to the top of Stone Mountain. The boys immediately found a shallow pond formed in a rock hollow and had a great time wading and crossing the rocks.
 | We had conquered Stone Mountain and gone over the top of the mountain, shown behind us. We stopped for water and apples and watched the cable cars which come up and down over the steep side of the mountain. |
The boys enjoyed watching the cable cars come and go and the view of the lake below.  Logan and Gage, who had come up the mountain barefoot, enjoyed exploring all the little ponds left by this weeks rain. |  |
 | We visited the top station of the cablecar so the boys could see its operation and then headed back across the mountain, again passing this shallow pool. It was interesting to see it with the perspective of the Atlanta skyline 15 miles away. |
Above are Zi'Keith in back, Jacobi, Reginald, Logan and Gage in front. As we went over the edge on the way down, we stopped for pictures with the skyline in the background. I let each boy have a try with the camera, so Jacobi took the picture at right. |  |
 | We headed down the mountain, but the boys were keen on stopping at the rock cave area again to play on the rocks. Logan and Gage climb around the area above the cave. |
Reginald enjoyed climbing and jumping on the rocks. This are is tailor-made for boys. |  |
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 | Jacobi and Reginald Brown on the rocks of Stone Mountain. |
Reginald and Jacobi high on the rocks with a view of Atlanta in the distance. After this we had to zip on down the mountain and have lunch and head back toward Mableton First Baptist. |  |
| Awana fall overnight at Bent Tree |
2010