Yellow Flowers Mark The Way

Let's climb Arabia Mountain today!

We went on a climb/walk up Arabia Mountain this past weekend. There were stone cairns to mark the way, but the yellow daisies which bloom at the mountain were charmingly lining the pathway up the mountain. These little flowers also bloom at Stone Mountain, and they are even called Stone Mountain Yellow Daisies or Confederate Daisies, but that is according to the dictionary, I have only ever heard them called Yellow Daisies. This is the astonishing thing: they only grow within a 60 mile radius of Stone Mountain. I wonder if that figure is correct today and perhaps that radius might now be smaller.

The wonderful thing is that these flowers are at their peak at the first of September. So we were happily surprised by the abundance of these lovely flowers on our walk .  They may not have been at their best, but oh, it was a pleasure to see them. Arabia Mountain has just in the past few years been completely transformed by new walking and bike trails around the mountain. There is another mountain close by, Panola Mountain, and both of these were heavily quarried for the lovely granite. Stone Mountain is just north of these mountains, about seven or eight miles away. Arabia Mountain is part of what is a National Heritage Area and will eventually link up to the thousands of acres at the Monastery.   (I have written an earlier post about the Monastery here in Rockdale County.)

The elevation of Arabia Mountain is 948 feet above sea level.  Not as high as  Stone Mountain (which is 1,686 feet) but enough to get you away from the madding crowd. We only saw a few people and other than that, we were completely alone.   Lovely.

These last few photos are of the boardwalk that skirts around the base of the mountain and then the trail continues across the road and goes on for miles and miles.   The yellow daisies were so beautiful.  I hope someday that yellow flowers will mark your way.