Photography Day Hike:
We've teamed up with Nature Photographer David Foster for a Nature Photography Day hike.
October 30, 2010
Join us!
HSE Civil War Bicycle Tour
May 6th, 2010 Classes, HomeschoolNo Responses » Read or Post Your Own
We are kicking off a collaboration with Bicycle Tours of Atlanta and are offering a new urban adventure: A Bicycle Tour of the Battle of Atlanta.
Our first tour for the general public will be held in collaboration with the B*ATL Event Festival in East Atlanta in July.
Last week, we rolled out a version of it with a group of families from Homeschool Excursions (HSE).
So, why is Sure Foot Adventures leading Civil War tours? We believe in helping people find creative ways to get outdoors, and a bicycle tour is a perfect intown adventure. We also wan to help people connect with the land around them, and learning history is a great way to do that. Are we Confederate sympathizers? No. We approach the story of the Civil War as a national tragedy (for the destruction and death it caused) and as a huge victory over the system of slavery. But most of all, we want participants to see the layers of history in the land around them and the neighborhoods we ride through.
At 11 a.m., our group of 10 cyclists departed the Zoo Atlanta parking lot in Grant Park for an 8-mile ride that approximated Civil War troop movements and visited important sites from the July 22, 1864 Battle of Atlanta.
Starting behind Confederate lines at Fort Walker, the only remaining visible earthworks left from the Civil War in Atlanta, we took a long uphill ride tracing Hardee’s night march and then criss-crossed Moreland Avenue (Leggett’s Hill) on side streets, learning the history of the battle and its significance.
General Hardee’s night march has always particularly intrigued me, probably because it involved hiking! General Hood ordered Hardee’s men to embark on an all-night, 12-15 mile march around the flank of the Federal armies in an attempt to attack from their rear. Many of these soldiers had just pulled back from fighting at Peachtree Creek, only to be sent on this extreme night march which culminated in a full day of vicious fighting. The most amazing thing to me is that these soldiers did not give up. It’s incredible, really, what humans can do when pushed.
In designing this bicycle tour, I originally wanted to bike the entire route of the night march. Many of the roads on Hardee’s route still exist (Key Road, Fayetteville Road, Flat Shoals Avenue, etc.), but this route would double the length of the ride. Instead, we ride directly to East Atlanta (one location where the battle began) via Ormewood Avenue. Ormewood has a long, slow hill which I hope helps participants simulate some of the fatigue that Hardee’s troops felt during the night march. Truthfully, though, nothing can simulate that!
Our tour visits the site of General McPherson’s death (for whom Fort McPherson was named), the remains of Leggett’s hill (which was mostly destroyed by the I-20 overpass at Moreland Avenue), the center point of the battle, and the Railroad Cut featured in the Cyclorama Painting. We use the height of the Inman Park MARTA Station overpass to look at the terrain surrounding the battle.
More than anything, I believe that bicycling the battle route allows participants to truly connect with history because the Civil War was so influenced by terrain - a fact which can’t be truly understood when driving. On bicycle, we can cover the whole battlefield (as opposed to the small area we can cover on foot), but we are forced to recognize the hills and valleys that so affected the fighting.
Plus, it’s great exercise and a wonderful way to see the intown neighborhoods of Grant Park, Ormewood Park, East Atlanta Village, Edgewood, Reynoldstown, Inman Park, and Cabbage Town.
This group of homeschool students were excellent cyclists, followed group-riding safety guidelines to a tee, and loved learning history while NOT sitting behind a desk. One young man raced me up a steep incline near Leggett’s Hill (and beat me, of course). Several participants chose to carry their bikes up the long staircase at the MARTA station, instead of taking the elevator (not that there is anything wrong with the elevator–those stairs are LONG). All in all, it was a great day of riding and history. Several participants even toured the Cyclorama in Grant Park after we completed the tour.
Please join us on a future bicycle tour! Visit biketoursatl.com, batlevent.org, and surefootadventures.com for more information about our tours.
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City Chicks Kids Outing
May 4th, 2010 ClassesNo Responses » Read or Post Your Own
Two weeks ago, in collaboration with the East Lake School Coalition, we led a city chickens outing with ten 2-4 year olds and their parents.
Though most families were from intown neighborhoods, one made the trek all the way from Marietta for our outing.
I was a bit nervous about the outing because young kids are often afraid of chickens. So, I set up the class to introduce the chickens to the children in stages. While families were arriving, everyone stayed outside of the chicken yard. Once everyone had gathered, I went inside the yard and showed the kids that I was comfortable with the birds. I then caught one hen and brought her outside the fence in my arms, lowered her to the kids’ level, and showed them how to pet her. We looked at the different parts of the chicken body. I even held one bird upside down (for only a short time) so the kids could touch her feet and spur nubbin.
By this time, the kids were getting used to the idea of these big dinosaur-esque birds. So, I brought out Spilly (our blind chicken) and let her walk in circles among them while they petted her. Finally, I invited any children who wanted to meet the chickens into the chicken yard. Everyone came in! We explored the coop, collected eggs, tried to pick up the chickens, and fed them a whole loaf of white bread.
There were only a couple melt-downs among the kids, which I think must be expected when you get 10 young children together with strange animals. The most beautiful thing that I saw was that the kids went from marveling at the birds to playing with and around the chickens as if they were normal pets in only an hour. Though most Americans have been separated from connections with their food sources, these kids spent an hour playing in my yard with chickens all around them.
To end the class, I lit a campfire in the fire pit and we all sat in a circle while I told the story of “Spilly & the Swallow,” an adaptation of “The Mole and the Swallow” story that my father tells on his children’s album, Howjado?
Finally, we all made paper plate chickens (which the kids immediately realized were perfect “chicken hats”). You can view the patterns on Denise Fleming’s website.
What a fun afternoon! One of the children still stops by every few days with his mom to feed our chickens. I look forward to our next City Chicks Kids outing in the next couple months. Until then, check out the East Lake School Coalitions other outings.
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Breaking Ground at Camp Ruth
April 13th, 2010 Classes, Kingfisher Academy1 Responses » Read or Post Your Own
We at Sure Foot Adventures are extremely excited to announce that we have broken ground at our new camp near Stone Mountain.
The 30-acre Ruth Lord Memorial Camp is a 20-minute drive from Atlanta and will be the home for many of Sure Foot’s day programs and periodic overnight camping trips.
Today, I took a group of 5 Kingfisher Academy students to the Camp and we marked three new trails and built a fire pit at the campground location. Of course, we also climbed in the “elephant tree” and played in Little Stone Mountain Creek (which runs through the camp).
Here’s the master plan for the camp:
We want to keep everything as primitive and “Leave No Trace” as possible, so we’re building trails to minimize the impact caused by bushwacking. Our campground area is in the center of the camp, away from the creek to avoid human contamination. The campground is edged by large hardwoods and will contain a fire pit area covered by a high tarp to allow programs to occur even when it’s raining. Tent pads will be spaced evenly around the camp.
Adjacent to the campground is a very large fallen oak which we will turn into an outdoors classroom. How? We will clear brush and small limbs from beneath the cage of large limbs created by the fallen tree. Within the embrace of these limbs, we’ll build benches. What a nice way to “recycle” a fallen tree. Any limb we remove from the dead tree will become firewood at the campground.
Want to help develop the campground? Interested in participating in a future program at Camp Ruth? Contact us!
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