Читать книгу Afoot & Afield: Atlanta. 108 Spectacular Outings in North-Central Georgia онлайн

15 страница из 110

A jewel of the Chattahoochee National Forest lies in the northwest section of the state. With 36,977 acres of mountainous terrain, the Cohutta Wilderness is a top choice if you wish to delve more deeply into remote forest. From high ridges of hardwoods and pines, you can descend into shaded groves of great hemlocks and deep cuts where wild rivers cut through the rugged landscape.

Georgia is blessed with great tracts of land where Atlantans can enjoy respite from the things of man. But equally intriguing are the paths that trace Georgia’s human history. The Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park west of Atlanta has well-maintained trails with interpretive signs explaining one of the heaviest battles pitched during the Atlanta Campaign of the Civil War. A little farther west, the rolling woods of Pickett’s Mill Battlefield have been preserved almost as they were when Union and Confederate troops clashed in a rare night battle. While there are no historical plaques or markers dotting the battlefield, the undulating terrain and dense woodlands are natural monuments and reminders of how Georgia’s landscape made fighting extremely difficult. You’ll have a very different experience walking the Chickamauga Battlefield near the border with Tennessee. One of the Civil War’s deadliest battles was fought in the low fields and woodlands of Chickamauga, and the battlefield is replete with all manner of historical markers, from tablets to large, elaborate stone monuments. Documenting the action in remarkable detail, some markers note the specific hours that troops held certain plots of ground.