Monday, April 27, 2009

Urban Hiking Podcast on "Mostly ITP"

Amber and Rusty from the Mostly ITP podcast (GA podcast network) were so interested in our urban hiking adventures that they interviewed me for more info. Check it out here.


Enjoy!
~Eli

5/2 hike- history tour down Ponce!

Our next hike is this Saturday, May 2nd. Local historian and artist Tom
Zarilli will take us on a historical tour down Ponce de Leon with many
interpretive stops along the way.

As usual we will meet at Park Grounds (142 Flat Shoals Ave SE) at 10am for
coffee/breakfast and start hiking by 10:45ish. We will again cross over
the Inman/Reynoldstown Marta, then venture through Freedom Parkway to
Ponce. Plan on bringing water for the hike and saving some room for
doughnuts at Krispy Kreme as well.

As always these hikes are 100% FREE, community inspired, and community led!

www.urbanhikingatlanta.blogspot.com
www.wonderroot.org
urbanhiking@wonderroot.org

Thursday, April 16, 2009

April Graffiti Hike

On Saturday, April 11th we embarked on the 4th installment of our urban hikes around Atlanta. Huge thanks to local artists Dosa Kim and Michi for making this one happen.

Once again, this happening seems to be getting more and more popular- we had record attendance with a total of 31 hikers (of course we stole 3 from the planned Beltline tour that was meeting at Park Grounds as well that morning).

I really feel that these tours have filled an important niche in the community as of late. I came up with the idea of "urban hiking" out of necessity. In fall 2008 we were in a gas crisis and I was not able to justify driving to north georgia for my normal monthly hikes on the Appalachian Trail. As a cheap alternative I decided to explore the city more by just putting on a daypack with food and water and trekking across Atlanta. With the help of a few friends and the good people at WonderRoot we were able to expand my initial idea into a community building "happening" that continues to grow.

I continue to be shocked at the positive response from the community. Little or no advertising is necessary on my part- just a few emails, a posting on the WonderRoot website and then a lot of word of mouth amongst friends. We continue to get members of the community to offer their expertise in leading themed hikes as well. If you or anyone you know has an idea or destination for a hike, then please contact me as well- urbanhiking@wonderroot.org.

Here's a brief account of April's Graffiti themed hike:

Local artist Dosa Kim- our leader for the day
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Chris from WonderRoot describing the process of organizing dozens of artists to paint the wall along the tracks on Wylie St.
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corner of Krog and Wylie
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Krog tunnel
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lunch at Parish in Inman Park
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In total we did around 4 miles in 2 hours. Some folks continued further, but most people rounded out the hike by walking through Inman Park and crossing the tracks at the Inman/Reynoldstown Marta station.

Next month: Historic Tour down Ponce de Leon on Saturday, May 2nd!
Email me with any questions/comments or to get on the email list: urbanhiking@wonderroot.org

Friday, April 10, 2009

"Feet on Atlanta" project

This project came to my attention from the PEDS organization in Atlanta that aims to "Make metro Atlanta safe and accessible for all pedestrians" and I thought the Urban Hiking group may be interested.

Through this project Atlantans can survey the conditions of city sidewalks via a tally sheet that can be filled out and either mailed or input online. The link to the sheet can be found here.

I'll try to bring a few hard copies to saturday's hike as well if anyone is interested.
~Eli

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Graffite hike this Saturday!

Hey folks,
It's super late notice, but please join us this Saturday, April 11th at 10am over at Park Grounds in Reynoldstown for our April Urban Hike- a graffiti tour with local artist Dosa Kim!

For more info or to be put on the mailing list, contact us here:
urbanhiking@wonderroot.org

Thanks!
~Eli