Although there is no firm line between a hike and a walk, there is general agreement that a hike is longer and more purposeful than a walk and is in nature. Whatever you call the activity, here are a few of the many metro Atlanta groups that organize group hikes.
Trail Dames
When Anna Huthmaker hit the Appalachian Trail in 2003, she noticed “nobody on the trail looked like me at all: No one was overweight. They all looked like an L.L. Bean catalogue.” So in 2007 she started Trail Dames, aimed at women who were not already hikers and billed as “a hiking group for women of a curvy nature.”
Now with chapters in 14 states, Trail Dames has more than 10,000 members nationally. Hikes in metro Atlanta can attract from 10 to 30 members, depending on difficulty and location. In the Georgia chapter, most women are between the ages of 50 and 70, with all body types, she says.
Her personal favorite hike is the Laurel Ridge Trail in Buford, a four-mile loop. “You hike around Lake Lanier for part of it, you hike through beautiful woods for part of it, and it can be welcoming to new people,” she says.
traildames.com
Black Hiking Club
Georgia’s Black Hiking Club began in 2021, when Tracy Stephens was hiking on Pine Mountain near Cartersville.
“I encountered this Black woman, and something was just off,” he says. “I asked her, ‘Are you OK?’ She said, ‘I just feel like I don’t belong out here. There’s Confederate flags and things that make me feel uneasy.’
“I asked her how would she feel if there was a group, a safe space, for Black men and women to hike together? And Black Hiking Club was born.”
The first hike attracted 12 people, but since then the group has grown exponentially. The club now has 1,900 members, and 13,000 Instagram followers. An average hike usually includes about 130 people, so many that they use a drone to take a group selfie.
The club’s next hike is Saturday, April 6, a sunrise hike at Brasstown Bald, the highest spot in Georgia,…
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