Kolb's Farm Loop Trail

In our quest to hike every square inch of the beautiful state surrounding us, we came upon Kolb's Farm Loop Trail a few weeks ago. Despite it's length {5.6 miles}, we thought it would be an easy hike for all of us.

I find it quite humorous that both East and West are pointed in the same direction. Way to try and throw some people off, guys! Yes, I do understand the sign. No, that didn't stop me from making jokes about "someone" not knowing their East from West. I guess I should also point out that my jokes were made funnier by the fact that I *technically* do not know my North, South, East, and West directions without consulting a GPS, so...

My brother, Walker, joined us for our trip this time and Canon was more than a little excited to have his uncle around to play with.

We found this forest's throne, which of course Canon claimed as his own. Under what authority I am not sure, but let's just say that his subjects {a.k.a. the animals} took him seriously enough to leave us alone during the entire trek. All hail King Canon!

While Canon was pretending to be a king, I was channeling Galdalf the Grey with my walking stick. My lower back has been bothering me pretty badly lately and this day was no exception. I relied so heavily on that stick that I like to think that I was cultivating my biceps and triceps with every step. You shall not pass!

While it was an easy hike in that it was relatively flat and without obstacles such as huge boulders to climb over, that distance is a little too much for a certain tiny mite in our family. The men took turns carrying him after we hit about 4 miles, and as you can see, he took the time to rest quite seriously. We were placing bets on when he would fall asleep on someone's head. Surprisingly, it didn't happen but his legs did fall asleep a couple of times so I guess that counts for something.

Nonetheless, we enjoyed ourselves and took our time soaking in the scenery and exploring off the beaten path. No, not too far. Don't want to mess with the flora and fauna too much after all.

During Craig's research of this trail, he came across some information regarding an old farm house that supposedly stood on the trail. I guess they use that term loosely since you have to cross a major road to find the house and the trail doesn't technically continue once you cross said road. We chose not to play Frogger with our lives that day, and instead drove here after hiking the rest of the trail.

The Battle of Kolb's Farm is another notch in the bedpost for the Union Army during the Atlanta Campaign in the Civil War. Casualties for the Confederate Army hit around 1,500 while the Union only sustained about 250, causing some to call it a one-sided slaughter. Though General Sherman technically won the battle, the attack had halted his plans of movement and forced him to reconsider another way to break through Johnston's Kennesaw line. The original farmhouse on this battle site still stands, though upgrades have been made to it such as indoor plumbing and central A/C. Amen. The government currently uses it as a "residence" for what I can only assume are rangers for the park. We did joke that it was a covert CIA base with the most amazing wifi technology...because that is the most important part of a CIA base after all. Of course, there would also be underground bunkers and magazines, but let's be honest : streaming Netflix faster than you can think is way more exciting than the same old song and dance of "guns and ammo everywhere".

I truly have no idea what I am rambling on about. I think I must need sleep. Send NyQuil. And a babysitter. Stat.

Since the cabin is "inhabited", it is not open to the public - a fact that we didn't know before arriving there. Apparently, Canon had worked himself up so much about seeing the inside of a real cabin that he was sorely disappointed to find that we couldn't explore it for ourselves. He still asks why we couldn't go inside. To this day. I wish I was kidding. Dude really wanted to experience some fast-streaming wifi. Can't say that I blame him for that.

I will admit that this particular trail wasn't our favorite to hike - not because of the length which really worked out fine - but because the scenery wasn't as breathtaking as some of the other trails we have taken. It is probably not one that we will be visiting frequently, but I am glad that we experienced it at least once.