Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park

The weather Sunday afternoon was gorgeous. P.K. called on his way home from work and asked if I wanted to get the kids out for a hike. He suggested a park where we had been before, but it was unfortunately wiped out in the recent floods. I told him I would do some quick research and have an idea of where we could go before he got home. Our time was limited as it was almost 5:00 before we would be able to head out.

This area is so rich in Civil War history. I checked a couple books out of the library this past summer to brush up on the Civil War. I had been wanting to check out Kennesaw Mountain. Rachel was pretty reluctant to go until she found out it was a Civil War battlefield because she is currently studying the Civil War in school. We were too late to look around the visitor's center, but we were able to hike up the mountain. There are over 18 miles of trails in the park, but we hiked one up the mountain that was about 1.4 miles (STRAIGHT UP!).

This was about half way. The kids all got their hiking sticks when we went on the Boy Scout camping trip. The view was amazing. The leaves are all changing which made it especially nice. I hope we can make it back next weekend because the leaves will be really pretty then.

The view was amazing. The leaves are changing which made it especially nice. I hope we can make it back next weekend because the leaves will be really be pretty then.

Hannah exploring some big rocks.

Aaron leading the way for a bit.

Hannah tuckered out and Daddy had lots of sympathy. I mentioned the incline and he added about 50 pounds on his shoulders.

The Atlanta skyline from the top.

There were several cannons at the top. There was a half circle of dirt in a mound around them. These are called earthworks and were actually made by the Civil War soldiers as sort of a bunker. Most of them are fenced off to protect them. I thought it was really neat that we were standing where those soldiers stood and fought such a long time ago.

As we were trying to get pictures of the sunset, we didn't think about the fact that it might be dark before we got back down. We were almost all the way back down before it was pitch black, but the last bit was a bit long. I was sure someone was going to twist an ankle on rocks or tree roots. Thankfully, we all made it down safely. PK and I were going to go back Tuesday morning while the kids were in school, but it rained. I am excited about exploring the rest of the park and can hardly wait to have a chance to go back.