Wild Georgia

ON THE MAP: GEORGIA'S NATURAL WONDERS

Fort Yargo State Park

8 nature escapes only an hour away from downtown Atlanta

As host of GPB’s Georgia Outdoors, I’ve discovered many places to escape into nature that are an hour or less from downtown. Here are some of my favorites.
Bats White-nose syndrome

Gone: The race to stop the fungus killing millions of bats

There are two ways scientists know when white-nose syndrome has colonized a cave: when bat carcasses carpet the floor or when the bats, normally clutching the cave walls, are simply gone.
Nature

Essay: Sometimes we are blind to to the beauty of this world

On this morning the sky was a transparent blue-and-white bowl, resting upside down on the far horizons. Situated within this bowl was my heartland, my beloved Georgia. The sky was as blue as china, as blue as a bluebird, cerulean blue, the blue of the Caribbean, blue as the bluest eye; it arched like a cathedral over me, vaulted over everything I love, and I was in love with everything it covered, whether I wanted to love or not.
Where does my recyling go? Atlanta

Where your recyclables end up may surprise you

It smells in here. Like wet cardboard. Old shoes. Hot milk. Cat litter. And it’s your fault. That is to say, the reason it’s stinky inside “the MRF,” Waste Pro’s 400,000-square-foot Material Recovery Facility on Fulton Industrial Boulevard, is because most of us put out the wrong stuff for pickup.

MORE ADVENTURES

Dick's Creek Falls

12 Great Georgia Hikes

Georgia's landscape has everything from the rugged Appalachians to granite monadnocks and shady creekside trails. We whittled it down to 12 great hikes, fit for an experienced backpacker, day-tripper, or even an urban crusader (two are ITP!).