Red Top, mounds take part in hike

— Taking part in the First Day Hikes nationwide effort, Red Top Mountain State Park and Etowah Indian Mounds State Historic Site will offer several activities related to America’s State Parks’ initiative.

After wrapping up its 2017 programming with a Last Saturday Hike this Saturday from 3 to 4:30 p.m., the Etowah Indian Mounds will offer its First Saturday Hike on Jan. 6, 9:30 to 11 a.m.

In addition to touring the property, participants will learn more about the 54-acre site, where several thousand American Indians lived from A.D. 1000 to A.D. 1550.

Regarded as the most intact Mississippian Culture site in the Southeast, Etowah Indian Mounds at 813 Indian Mounds Road in Cartersville safeguards six earthen mounds, a village area, a plaza, borrow pits and a defensive ditch.

At Red Top, the First Day History Hike will be presented Jan. 1 from 2 to 4 p.m. Later that day, there also will be an AmeriCorps-led Full Super Moon Hike on the Lakeside Trail from 8 to 9 p.m.

While there is no fee to partake in Red Top’s hikes Jan. 1, participants also need to display a daily or annual Park Pass in their vehicles.

For more information on the Etowah Indian Mounds, visit gastateparks.org/ Et ow ah Indian Mounds or call 770-387-3747.

Further details about Red Top can be obtained online at gastateparks. org/RedTopMountain or by calling 770-975-0055.