National Bark Rangers

Yesterday was the most fun thing I've done with my greyhounds in a long time.  Allie, Fleetwood, and I went to Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park so that they could become National Bark Rangers.  This had been on my 2020 to-do list, and then the pandemic hit.  Recently, I checked the Ocmulgee Mounds website and saw that the grounds are now back open daily, and the visitors center is open Friday through Sunday (masks required).  Time for a hound hike!

Ready for our outing!

The hounds had to dress for the occasion.  Allie wore my cool Smokey Bear bandanna.

Fleetwood wore my bat bandanna because he's kind of batty.

After we ran a few errands in the Macon area, the hounds and I headed to the park.  I made a quick stop inside the visitors center to verify the Bark Ranger requirements.  Mainly it involved walking the hounds on leashes and picking up after them (i.e., a regular walk).  There are a few pet stations with poopy sacks around the park, but I'm glad I brought my own sacks because Allie and Fleetwood decided to do their business on more remote parts of the trails.

I had been to the Ocmulgee Mounds before, but this was a great refresher on things I had learned previously.  Native Americans lived continuously in this area for thousands of years.  During the Mississippian period (900 - 1600 CE), which refers to the archeological period rather than the geological period, they built a number of mounds here.  The mound closest to the visitors center is the Earth Lodge.  It was used for political and religious ceremonies.  The Earth Lodge has been carbon dated to the year 1015, and the interior has been restored to look like it might have back then.  Although the Earth Lodge had been closed because of the pandemic, it is now reopened to the public (one family at a time).  However, because I've been inside it before and to be more COVID cautious, I didn't go inside on this visit.  Besides, I thought maybe dogs weren't supposed to go in.  Fleetwood wanted to, though.

The Creeks were the Native Americans who lived in the area most recently.  They were actually the remnants of a number of other tribes who were decimated by smallpox and other diseases that Europeans brought.  These remnants banded together to form the Creeks.  People usually think of Cherokees when they think of Native Americans in Georgia, but the Cherokees were in North Georgia.  Creeks (who call themselves Muscogee/Muskogee) lived here in Middle Georgia.

The park has many trails, and I wanted to explore some I had never been on  - but not this one.

The trail not taken

Instead, we went on one of the most popular trails that leads to the Great Temple Mound.

The greyhounds did great climbing all the stairs to the top of the Great Temple Mound.  When we reached the top, we walked around the large, grassy area.  Here's a view looking at downtown Maconga.  (Well, the hounds aren't looking in that direction, but I am.)

We descended from the Great Temple Mound and went exploring further.  We walked toward the Funeral Mound and found a nice wooded loop trail.

Fleetwood always walks ahead of me, but Allie always stays right by my side.  Therefore, it's hard to get her in a picture while we're walking.

The mounds are right next to I-16.  You can hear traffic from the park.  It's an odd juxtaposition between ancient and modern civilizations.  I thought about the innumerable Native Americans who lived here over thousands of years.  They managed to survive and thrive, using the land and other natural resources but not overstressing or using up everything.  Then, the U.S. government drove out the last natives.  Today, we humans might make ourselves go extinct because of the way we treat the Earth.  The Ocmulgee Mounds are a good reminder that it's possible for humans to live on the Earth in a sustainable way.

The train tracks running through the mounds are another reminder of modern people's effects.

A train went by while the greyhounds and I were walking.  We were headed back to the visitors center anyway, and I hoped to make it back to the footbridge over the tracks before the train finished passing.  Although we didn't make it in time, it was still an interesting view below.

The hounds were thirsty after all that hiking.  The visitors center has this nice dog water fountain.

We were close to 5K total, and so we walked to the end of the parking lot.  I was tempted to go on the Bartram Trail, named for the naturalist and explorer who documented his travels through the southern British colonies in the 1770s.

However, I could tell that the hounds had had enough walking.  Also, the rain was starting to pick up.  The forecast had looked rather iffy all day, but we managed to do the majority of our walk during a break in the rain.  The spotty weather didn't bother me, though.  In fact, it was rather invigorating.

I had brought a picnic lunch, but it was too wet to eat outside.  Instead, I ate it in my car while Allie and Fleetwood lounged in the back.  I also admired their National Bark Ranger tags.

When we got home, I also did all the activities in the booklet that the ranger in the visitors center had given me.

I'll make a copy of this last page of the booklet so both hounds can have a certificate.

This post has been primarily about hiking, but I also went for a dirt road ride late yesterday afternoon.  The rain had let up, and the sun even peeked out.  The fresh green of early spring leaves was everywhere.  Tree trunks and woody stems were dark with rain, making a stunning contrast with the bright leaves.  My ride reminded me of the name of one of the Strava segments on our Tuesday Worlds route: Icing on the Kake.