Four of us purchased the LivingSocial for the easy hike. None of us had been hiking in Georgia…read morebefore, so we thought this might be a nice introduction.
When I contacted the outfit for scheduling and requesting an easy hike on a Saturday, Dante (the guide and the person behind the company, I think) emailed back letting me know there would be an easy hike on the following Sunday. We figured that was fine, even though that meant skipping church and doing something that would take several hours on the day before we're all supposed to be back at work.
I read these other two reviews and got a little nervous, so I tried to prepare everyone in the group. We brought additional food with us. First, I get really hungry. Second, I'm vegetarian and I figured that wouldn't necessarily be accommodated, so I didn't bother to ask..
Also, I had to not let the spelling and punctuation in the emails bother me. So I got over that.
Thursday before the hike, we got an email letting us know we would be doing our hike at Virginia Bryant State Park in Royston, GA and the wine tasting at Boutier Winery, about 12 miles away from the park. He also told us what he was bringing for lunch, and told us to bring our own water. I thought that specificity was helpful.
That state park is 90 miles away from Atlanta, so we carpooled and gave ourselves plenty of time. We found the group pretty easily (just drive toward the ranger station and look for a group of people).
The guide is really nice and friendly. He had us all introduce ourselves. During the hike, he also walked his way up and down the line of folks, making sure to talk to everyone, and, I think, keeping track of folks so no one was left behind. We stopped twice so people could have water and a snack (that we brought ourselves - that wasn't provided) and so we could take some photos. Our group paced together pretty well, so staying together was easy.
We had lunch together at a covered area in the park. He set out the food (wraps, turkey, mustard, carrots, arugula, kale, dates, pomegranates). It was the perfect hiker's lunch, light, not too much. I didn't really need to have brought additional food for the meat-eaters. I did have my own no-meat sandwich.
We then drove over in a caravan to the winery. We got the six tastes, which were pretty generous pours. We could have paid for additional tastes or glasses of wine. The wine was pretty decent. Previous encounters with Georgia wines had been with wines made of muscadine, which is super-nasty. This stuff was all right.
I would never pay $95 for this, but it was fine for $39. Now that we know about that park and winery, we can do it on our own. I would recommend this for folks who are hesitant about hiking alone or don't know the area.