I moved to Atlanta from New Orleans. For my two years as a resident I had the joy of running through Audubon Park, a fast, beautiful shaded 1.8 mile trail near campus and my apartment. Coming to Atlanta was a rude for me as a runner, having started running through the flatness of Indiana, then in NOLA, I was dismayed with the hills of this new locale. Just the same I was determined to resume running somewhere and enlisted my BFF to find me a suitable park . That first park was Best Friend Park. Located off Jimmy Carter Boulevard in Norcross, Georgia, Best Friend at that time (21 years ago) was more about hoops than it was about running and walking. Just the same, I gave the park a whirl found it less than desirable. I don’t believe that the trail was even finished at that time.
Having run most of the parks in my area over the last few years, I recently headed back to Best Friend. Entering from Jimmy Carter and heading back toward the giant powerlines leads straight to the beginning of the trail. What I saw was a pleasant surprise, nothing at all like I remembered.
The trail starts on top of a slight hill, winds down and back up near the tennis center. There’s a pedestrian crossing at that point as there is an entrance on that side. The trail continues past a field up another slight hill, curves around and ends back at the trail start. The trail is listed at .75 miles and it goes fairly quickly since it’s not hilly. The shade is adequate on the back side, but I imagine it may be pretty hot during the summer as you’re making the loop around back to the start as there are no trees on that portion of the trail.
The Best Friend Park paved trail is a great, short trail that would be good for days when you don’t want to do anything long or difficult or if you want to do some speedwork amongst the trees in lieu of a track. If you’re in the area, check it out hopefully you’ll be as pleasantly surprised as I.
Until next time, see you on the trail, where you will not EVER find ME doing speedwork. 🙂
photos: MsThorns
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