The Cascade Springs Nature Preserve offers a peaceful oasis within the bustling city of Atlanta, GA. Visitors to the nature preserve can hike to a stunning waterfall, Civil War era mounded earthworks, and historic springhouse covered in moss. Leaving from the parking area surrounded by chain-link fence, the nature preserve seems like an unlikely setting for its trails bordered by natural beauty. The tranquil Cascade Springs Nature Preserve is located within an urban neighborhood in the southwestern part of the city. The area also included historic Craftsman houses and plazas from the 1970's.
Within the nature preserve's 120 acres of greenery is a expansive trail network that explore trickling springs, a cascading waterfall, streams, and a forest filled with wildlife. Among the wildlife living in the hilly forest retreat are turtles, birds, and deer. A great amount of natural beauty is packed into the short Cascade Springs Nature Trail. Along the trail is a creek with patches of sunlight above, a gorgeous waterfall, and the remnants of a moss-covered stone springhouse. It's not difficult at all for visitors to forget they are in the heart of a busy city while surrounded by so much beauty in the Cascade Springs Nature Preserve.
The trail leave from the trailhead in the parking area. Meandering along a boardwalk, the trail skirts earthworks that were dug by troops during the Civil War in the battle of Utoy Creek as a defensive line. It later passes a historic, moss-covered, stone-and-mortar springhouse above a flowing spring, and then turns right towards a paved trail heading east. The trail later changes from a paved one to a dirt path that travels westward through a rolling forest towards Utoy Creek. It meets Utoy Creek at the .3 mile mark.
The Cascade Springs Nature Trails then heads south, following along the banks of Utoy Creek upstream down an old gravel roadbed. There is a side trail at about .55 miles that turns left and winds and climbs its way through boulder-studded forest through switchbacks. The trail's peak elevation is at a ridge. From the ridge, the earthworks from the Civil War are somewhat visible on the forest floor, covered by a heavy blanket of ivy and ferns. At a trail intersection, the hike turns to the right on the crest of the ridge, heading east before turning to the left onto the Terrace Trail headed north. As the trail descends, the scenery becomes the deep emerald color of an English Ivy draped landscape. The trail passes by an old building right before the one mile mark.
Just past this point, the hiks runs into the intersection with Spring Trail, trailing beside many small streams and turning right. Approaching a valley filled with boulders, visitors will be to hear the sound of tumbling water through the forest, letting them know they are close to the Cascade Springs waterfall. Water cascades down and underneath an often busy bridge, and English ivy drapes the huge rock that terraces the three cascades of the waterfall. The trail then travels along a boardwalk, following the creek's banks toward the trailhead, passing by the stone springhouse and ending at the entrance to the park.
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