The Yellow Trail

In our hiking at Oak Mountain State Park, we have completed the Blue, White, and Green trails.  Today, we did a good portion of the Yellow Trail.  The name given to the Yellow Trail is Foothills Trail.  That’s an appropriate name because the Yellow trail meanders up the hills and down into the ravines that skirt the North Ridge.

Water coming over the Old Lake Dam

For today’s hike we parked at the picnic shelter at Picnic Area II and started our hike by going left toward Old Lake and then on to Maggie Glen.  We retraced our steps from Maggie Glen to the picnic shelter then continued on the Yellow trail to Group Camp Rd. then back to the picnic shelter and the car.  The total distance was 5.6 miles.

The first part of our hike took us upstream to the dam at Old Lake.  Above the dam, the trail skirted the west side of this small lake before re-entering the woods.  Gene and I agreed--the lake was our favorite part of the hike.

At the top of the Dam

Park cabins are on the other side of the lake

There was a side trail which led to the cabins on the other side of the lake, but we passed on that adventure.  Not far from the lake we came to a backcountry campsite.  There was a stream nearby for easy access to water, but the campsite was not level enough for our liking.  After a quick inspection of the campsite we continued on to Maggie Glen.

A watched pot never boils

I love this area at Maggie Glen.  It is so peaceful beside the stream.  Several trails intersect here, so there is a kiosk with a trail map and other information.  By the kiosk are benches which made a great place to sit in the sun for our morning break.  Gene, bless his heart, made hot chocolate for us.

We returned to the picnic area then continued on the Yellow trail in the other direction.  For the first quarter mile or so, we followed the stream.  We crossed the stream on a foot bridge and began our climb to the top of the next hill.  In this section, the Yellow hiking trail is shared with horses.  However, the trail is pretty steep and in places pretty narrow for horses, so we didn’t see much evidence of horse use.

Descending the other side of this hill brought us to Group Camp Road.  At the intersection was another kiosk with benches--a perfect place for our lunch break.  After a long break, we headed back to the car at the picnic shelter.

From where we stopped for our lunch, the Yellow trail continues with its short ups and downs for 2.5 more miles.  There is a parking lot at the end of the Yellow trail.  If we get an opportunity, we’ll hike this last 2.5 miles to complete all the hiking trails in the Park.  Although hiking is allowed, we have not and don’t want to hike the Red trail which is used by mountain bikers.  There is also an Orange Horse trail which we haven’t hiked, but we’re not too fond of horse trails.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for tagging along.