Magnolia Springs State Park: Sink/Lake/Spring Loop (Blog Hike #452)

Trails: Lime Sink, Beaver, and Woodpecker Trails

Hike Location: Magnolia Springs State Park

Geographic Location: north of Millen, GA (32.87533, -81.95621)

Length: 2.9 miles

Difficulty: 3/10 (Easy/Moderate)

Dates Hiked: December 2013, January 2023

Overview: A “grand tour” loop featuring a sink, a lake, and a spring.

Park Information: http://gastateparks.org/MagnoliaSprings

Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=726259

Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: 

Directions to the trailhead: Magnolia Springs State Park is located on US 25 5 miles north of Millen.  Enter the park, pay the entrance fee, and bear right on the signed road for Picnic Area #7 and the playground.  Park in the small blacktop parking area near the playground.

The hike: Located an hour south of Augusta, 1070-acre Magnolia Springs State Park centers around the park’s namesake spring.  The 7 million gallons of clear 67-degree water that spew from the spring each day have drawn visitors here for centuries.  During the Civil War, some of those visitors were Union soldiers who were placed in a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp located just uphill from the spring.

            The camp withstanding, most people who come to Magnolia Spring come of their own free will.  Before it became a state park, the spring area comprised a privately-owned recreation retreat, and a fish hatchery was established on adjacent land.  The state park was created in 1939 after a 15-year effort by local citizens to establish a state park on this site.  Shortly thereafter, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built some facilities here.  Park facilities today include a 28 site campground, 8 cottages, 8 picnic shelters, and a playground.

            For hikers, Magnolia Springs State Park is somewhat of a general store: it contains a little of everything without a lot of anything.  The front part of the park contains the historic POW camp site; it is featured in the next hike.  This hike takes you on a grand tour of the park’s interior, which includes a sinkhole, Magnolia Lake, and the spring that makes this park famous.

Trailhead: Lime Sink Trail

            Start your tour by picking up the Lime Sink Trail, which begins at a wooden portal between the playground and the restroom building.  The Lime Sink Trail is the park’s newest trail, so the treadway is not as firmly packed as on most trails.  Keep an eye on the blue paint blazes to avoid getting lost.

            At 0.15 miles, the trail joins an old dirt road, heading almost due east.  If you look to the left at this juncture, you will see the sink for which this trail is named.  Sinks form when water erodes the limestone bedrock roof of a cave, thus causing it to collapse.  The implosion leaves a large depression on the surface such as the one you see here.  This sink appears to be dry, but deeper sinks fall below the water table and thus partially fill with water.

Joining the old road

            The trail follows the old road for a few hundred feet before turning left to exit the roadbed just before reaching an area of the park that was logged recently.  At 0.4 miles, you pass through an area with numerous downed trees.  The largest trees in this forest are loblolly pines, but a few red cedars and broadleaf trees populate the understory.

            0.7 miles into the hike, an unmarked spur trail exits left to the campground.  Keep with the blue blazes by staying right.  An active rail line sits just to the right of this section of trail, but I only heard one train pass by during my 2 hour visit here.  At 1 mile, you reach the north end of the Lime Sink Trail and an intersection with the white-blazed Beaver Trail.  As instructed by a directional sign, turn right here to head for the observation deck, the highlight of the Beaver Trail.

Intersecting the Beaver Trail

            The firmly packed dirt Beaver Trail descends gradually as it curves left.  A few old wooden benches provide rest for the weary.  At 1.4 miles, you reach a wooden observation deck perched on the upper reaches of Magnolia Lake.  Thick brush prevents any long-distance views, but I did see some songbirds including a chickadee and a sparrow in the brush.  Two hawks were gliding over the group camp located across the lake.  Some benches here allow you to rest and observe the lake.

View from observation deck; Magnolia Lake

            Past the observation deck, the trail parallels the lake’s east shore, heading downstream.  Keep your eyes to the right so as not to miss any wildlife on the lake.  My approach sent a trio of geese into running take-off mode across the water.   At 1.9 miles, the other arm of the Beaver Trail comes in from the left.  Just past this intersection, you cross a boardwalk over an inlet of Magnolia Lake.

Crossing the boardwalk

            After crossing the boardwalk, you come out at a bank fishing area near the campground.  To continue, climb the hill to the left and take a soft right to begin walking out the main park road.  Note that a hard right here would take you across the dam to the group camp.  To pick up the Woodpecker Trail, the last leg of this hike, pass the last park cottage (Cottage #5) and look for a yellow paint blaze on a tree to the right just before you reach a speed bump in the road.  Turn right to leave the road and begin the spur of the Woodpecker Trail.

Yellow blaze announcing spur to Woodpecker Trail

            The spur trail descends gradually and soon meets the red-blazed Woodpecker Trail proper, where you should continue straight.  Marshy Spring Mill Branch comes into view as the trail curves left to parallel the creek downstream.  Just short of 2.7 miles into the hike, the trail forks.  Take the trail going right to quickly arrive at the boardwalk that overlooks Magnolia Spring.

Hiking near Spring Mill Branch

            Magnolia Spring is not the largest spring I have ever seen, but it is one of the prettiest.  Obvious ripples in the pool mark where water emerges, and the dull grey mud contrasts nicely with the clear to light blue water.  Some Spanish moss draped trees frame the setting perfectly.

Magnolia Spring

            The Woodpecker Trail ends at the parking lot beside Magnolia Spring, so the balance of the hike is a park road walk back to your car.  Angle left and walk uphill through the picnic area.  Pass the campground dump station to reach the parking area beside the playground, thus completing the hike.