Elwyn John Wildlife Sanctuary is hidden in plain site trail, hidden behind Kittredge Park (which…read moreitself is located across the street from the Druid Hills Target), this is slightly more than 1.5 mile round trip trail that goes from paved, to gravel, to natural earthen trail that everyone should be able to complete.
The very start of the trail is set in a really nice open field with benches and a nice walkway. At some point you'll come to a fork in the road, and going right (towards the bridge), will send you up hill for maybe half a mile. Following this trail up will cause you to sweat a little bit, and at some point you'll arrive at a tree, encircled by a stone bench type structure. Going past this structure leads to a small unkempt trail that leads into the nearby neighborhood.
There aren't a ton of stringer/feeder trails, but before you reach the circular stone bench mentioned, there's one forest trail that leads to Kittredge park, as well as a platform that overlooks the creek and a very small waterfall, that is probably a little more impressive after there's been a nice rain
There is parking, although it's for handicapped only, but no worries, there's space alongside the one way road to park at the start of this trail.
It's a pretty quiet trail that's well hidden, and lightly used. In fact, I was the only person on the trail and the only voices I heard were nearby construction workers not so far from the nearby school. One problem for this trail, especially if you're by yourself, is that this trail isn't marked at all, and it really turns into a "where's this go?" adventure, which is cool, but can be scary to some. There isn't even a sign denoting that you're at the sanctuary, and you really wont know unless you just know where it is or that you're looking at a map.
I'm not quite sure where the Elwyn John Wildlife Sanctuary got its name, but outside of a few crows, birds and a butterfly or two, I didn't see much in the way of wildlife, but it could've been an off day.
If you're up for a nice brisk walk that's hidden in plain site away from all the hustle and bustle, give the Elwyn John Wildlife Sanctuary a shot, but if you don't like trails that aren't marked, this may be a trail you should skip