Lately I’ve been recovering from an injury to my left foot – my peroneus brevis tendon to be exact. The orthopod said it was an “overuse” thing – I think it’s a “we don’t really know what is wrong so we’ll just say it’s overuse” thing. Due to my injury, I chose to do my first blog-specific hike in the city in which I reside, choosing a short, mostly benign trail just a few miles from my house.

The details:

Kelley C. Cofer
4259 N. Park Dr., Tucker
Acres: 17
Softball, swimming pool, playground, picnic area, lake and trails

(Photo credit: GoogleMaps 2018)

The park is named after a member of a prominent Tucker family. With the recent incorporation of the City of Tucker, Kelley C. Cofer Park is currently in transition from Dekalb County ownership to being owned by the City of Tucker. Dekalb’s level of care of this park has been a bit hit or miss over the years, including the great “lets repaint the inside of the pool with water soluble paint” incident, so in 2009 a group of Tucker citizens voluntarily formed the Friends of Kelley Cofer Park to maintain and improve the park. Since the involvement of the “Friends” group, Cofer Park has seen the addition of a pollinator garden, a Little Free Library, an area called The Peach Pit, which is home to 25 peach and nectarine trees, and has worked with the Tucker High School Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM) class on several projects.

It’s a nice, small, neighborhood park located between two major roads in Tucker, Chamblee Tucker and Old Norcross and contained within a subdivision of late 60s/early 70s homes on large lots. The lake consumes about half of the 17 acres of which the park consists.

To begin my little hike, I parked in the paved parking lot just off N. Park Drive near the pool house. There is also a parking area across the street that encircles the “Peach Pit.” I walked from my car to the edge of the lake, where there are a handful of metal benches. I was greeted by several mallard ducks and a few pairs of Canadian geese. I left them alone, they left me alone. I wouldn’t advise doing otherwise. It is nesting season right now, so when I got too close for comfort, the drakes (male ducks) would let me know that I’d intruded on their comfort zone.

 

I followed the path around the lake to the right, and eventually came to an area that began an ascent, but then seemed to dead end near a building which contained restrooms. I’m unsure if they are functional and will go back and check and then update this note. I did have some nice views of the lake while I was on that path.

Once I found I was hitting a dead end, I walked back the way I’d come. When I reached North Park Drive I took a right to cross over to the other side of the lake.  As I walked, I spotted some turtles and thought “cool! I’d better take a photo of those. I may not see any more.” Boy was I wrong.

If you want to see turtles, Cofer Park is THE place to go. The turtles I saw were mostly River Cooters (Pseudemys concinna) but I was able to spot one of a different species, a Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans):

So very many turtles:

Lousy with turtles. Haha!

I proceeded to walk around the east side of the lake. I stayed mostly along the very edge of the lake, but there were numerous paths to use. This one was a little bit steeper than my lakeside path:

I ran into, you guessed it, some more turtles:

And then happened upon a female mallard and another turtle, either at an impasse about who was going to move first, or two old friends having a chat:

I also found more geese, digging around in the vegetation in the squishy mud at the edge of the lake:

I also spotted a few flowers:

A yellow flag iris (Iris pseudacorus), which is invasive but pretty so I left it:

Some Sweetshrub aka Carolina Allspice (Calycanthus floridus):

And at the end of the trail, where it comes out near the baseball fields, some Daisy Fleabane (Erigeron annuus):

This is a view of where I came out. Not very obvious there is a trail here, right? The trailhead is just about in the middle of the photo in the line of trees.

Then, I walked behind home plate of the baseball field and wound my way back to the parking lot and my car near the pool area.

All in all, it was a pleasant little hike and it’s nice to have those moments where you feel like you’ve escaped the city, the stress of daily life, and have a moment to commune with the natural world. I think the entire loop is around a mile, give or take. Next time I’ll set my tracker which will share the mileage and elevation. I’m already learning a few things I need to do for my next blog post so I can give you the best information to plan your hike if you choose to follow one of mine.

And food! That will be part of this blog too. I needed carbs and protein so I just hopped over to my friendly neighborhood Newk’s and ordered my latest addiction, their Ahi-Tuna Sandwich. I highly recommend loading up on the capers on their toppings bar. That really adds the perfect punch to the sashimi-like tuna and chimichurri sauce dressing the sandwich.

Thanks for reading my post, and I hope you enjoyed tagging along on my hike around Kelley C. Cofer Park!

 

Disclaimer: all errors are mine. I am open to making corrections if you spot any. Please just shoot me a message! Thanks!

I can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t love being outside, where I always enjoyed finding interesting flora and fauna, and subsequently learning more about them. I’ve hiked and biked many places in the southeast, and hope to continue to do so until my body tells me to quit. I’m currently 51 years old, so, not too old, but also not as young as I used to be.

The name of this blog came to my mind as I was suffering over some rooty, rocky trails at Sweetwater Creek State Park in Douglas County, Georgia. I’d been hiking a few miles, grousing about some elevation changes and happened upon a family hiking the same trail. With them was a little girl, maybe 4 or 5 years old, happily scrambling over the rocks I’d just been mentally complaining about, all while wearing patent leather shoes and a sequined dress with an enormous pink tutu. She made me smile when I’d been frowning, and after that encounter I became motivated to commit myself to fostering and sharing my love of hiking despite my aging years and complaining body. If she can hike in a tutu, I can keep hiking despite my age, or the roots, or the rocks. I wish I’d gotten her name so I could thank her, but for now, I’ll honor her in this way.

I haven’t quite determined the pathway this blog will take, but I’d like to share my experiences hiking around the state of Georgia and neighboring states. I also know that sometimes you have to reward yourself for a good long body-flogging hike, so I might share a few tips about post hike refueling at the restaurants I find near the trails I’ve hiked. Whatever this turns out to be, I hope you enjoy tagging along with me. — Susan

Every one of us is getting older, which is a natural process. Time is constantly moving on, second by second. Nothing can stop it, but what we can do is use our time properly; that is in our hands. Whether we believe in a spiritual tradition or not, we need to use our time meaningfully. If over days, weeks, months and years, we have used our time in a meaningful way – when our last day comes, we’ll be happy, we’ll have no regrets. – His Holiness the Dalai Lama