The Nature Center has administrative offices, a meeting/classroom, and a visitor reception area where visitors can get information about the Nature Preserve. The offices are open on weekdays from 8-12 a.m. and 1-4 p.m. Weekend hours vary.
Behind the Nature Center, you'll find a frog/salamander pond. The pond has a butyl rubber liner, which is the best type of liner for ponds. The liner has been completely covered by organic soil to provide a completely natural appearance. Aquatic vegetation has been planted around the pond edges to provide desirable frog habitat and to bind the soil and complete the appearance that the pool is natural. Aquatic plants include arrowhead, golden spike, water iris, lizard's tail, and cardinal flowers. The August display of cardinal flower blooms may be the best to be found anywhere in Georgia. Frogs and dragon flies can be seen in abundance during the warm season. In the late winter and early spring, numerous salamander egg masses can be observed in the pond. The wet areas next to the pond contain several additional varieties of vegetation. Several butterfly bushes attract Monarch butterflies.
Notice the colorful box between the office building and the picnic area. It is a "Little Free Library", one of many scattered over the country. The idea is that an individual browses through the books in the box and takes one he/she likes. Then later on, the individual returns the book or provides a replacement book. Currently, this library is dedicated to providing children's books only.
On the south side of the Nature Center building, you will observe a curvilinear hand-placed rock drainage way that prevents erosion that had been occurring during substantial storm water flows. The drainage way demonstrates the Nature Preserve's commitment to controlling erosion on the Nature Preserve and shows an effective and visually-pleasing method of controlling storm water flows.
At the edge of the grass backyard area, you will see rock landscaped water lily ponds, which illustrate a visually effective way to handle pre-formed plastic pond liners.
Cardinal Flowers
Closest parking is at the Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area office parking lot on Klondike Road. This is one of the parking areas for the PATH Foundation's Arabia Mountain Bike Path.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Cell service will be limited in various areas on the AMNHA Geo-Path. If you are using your cell phone, you can download the cache info to your phone and travel the trails using the offline mode.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This nature preserve, like other Georgia woodlands, has ticks during all but the winter season. Take precautions that include wearing a hat, a long sleeve shirt, and long pants with legs tucked into socks. Wear light colored clothing for ease of spotting ticks, especially deer ticks that are the size of a pin head. Use bug spray with the chemical DEET and especially spray around the ankle area. Additional info for tick prevention measures.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Come explore the Arabia Mountain PATH and earn trackable prizes along the way!
The AMNHA Geo-PATH is a geocaching program spread along the entire 30+ miles of the Arabia Mountain PATH hike/bike trail. We have over 60 geocaches just waiting for you to find.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
See additional waypoints for parking coordinates, points of interests and trailheads.
Each cache is classified in one of following series:
Arabia Mountain Adventures
Lands Less Visited
Lithonia's Historic Hike
Panola Mountain Pathways
Past and Present Passages
South River Stroll
Download the passports to collect the passwords:
Geo-Path Passport
Lands-Less-Visited Passport
Past and Presents Passages Passport
|