Waterworks / Mason Mill

Beat the traffic. Park at Mason Mill Park 1340 McConnell Drive Decatur 30033. Drive past tennis courts on your left, paved trail to the right. After long wooden board walk unmarked dirt trails skirt off to the left and right past the bridge. Similar to Yellow River, just go explore, it's fun. I did about 5 miles but there are so many options you'll just have to try it all out. I walked my bike, carried my bike over creeks....but it was really cool!

If you can't go anywhere else this is the place. Not marked at all.

Definitely the best intown riding, especially when combined with Ira B. Melton. Nice combination of technical climbs and descents, and you can easily do 7-8 miles if you know the trails well. My personal favorite is the rooty descent next to the train tracks. If you fly down this while the train is going by, you feel like you're in an action movie! Some trails here have gotten very overgrown lately though.

I am writing this review as someone who tried to ride the trail for the first time. I was following the directions on singletracks.com to find the trailhead. The directions guide you close to a parkinglot at some tennis courts. From there you have to figure out things on your own. Nothing is marked, no trailmaps or anything. This track is good for locals who have time and patience to explore. If you are looking for a quick and easy accessible track, try somewhere else.

Fun trail, hella close to intown :)

Nice place to wonder around. Best place to ride itp. If you live in Atlanta. And want to due a quick ride with out having to sit in, traffic this is your place. One can put together a quick 4-5 mile loop. With one riding the sane trial twice

It's messy but you can stitch together some pretty challenging singletrack with tight switchbacks. The Ira B trails are cleaner but its basically the same trail system when you find the connections along the tracks. Some sketchy slopes and a couple foul smelling stream crossings but overall a decent inner city ride.

This review is totally incorrect. There's plenty of singletrack here!

IMO, not as good as Ira B Melton, but I'm giving this 3 stars as well. If I could go 3.5 on IBM without going 4, I would.

Waterworks/Mason Mill is very tight and twisty, with trail that doubles back on itself quite frequently. It's easy to jump onto a different trail or miss a section of trail if you don't know where you're going or not paying attention. However, there's some decent in-town singletrack riding to be had here if you know where to go!

Convenience is key here. If you live inside the perimeter than this park should not be too difficult to get to. For me it is the only MTB trail I know of within 30 minutes of my house.

Don't go to these trails expecting a full trail system that flows and is well marked. This trail, to me, is about exploring and just riding whatever you choose. The part that I didn't like was that I came across about three areas that turned out to be pretty dangerous. One of them was a trail that leads to about a 2-1/2' drop. The landing area was only about 6' long and ends in another 20' drop into the creek. The trails I rode were on the mason mill side.

I highly recommend the first time you ride this trail, go slow and dismount on areas you are unsure about. The trails are covered in leaves and pine needles which makes them slick and uneasy. There are somewhat random drop off's and dangerous areas as well. It doesn't appear that this was designed as a MTB trail, however it is still a very fun trail to ride.

Had fun here, but defiantly wouldn't seek this place out if it wasn't so close. Nothing is clearly marked...kinda felt like I was exploring on my own trying to make something out of nothing. TONS OF ROOTS here and a few gnarly drops/climbs but be prepared to get dirty as others have mentioned.

A lot of you are right. There are a lot of mini trail systems that run off of the paved South Peachtree Creek Trail. I've been to this trail system 4 times now trying to figure out how all of the paths' link together. A lot run through peoples back yards. Long story short; it's a short, technical, after work/casual workout kinda ride. Definitely a trail for locals. I give this trail a 3 only for locals because w/ a little time and imagination, you can link together some fun rides.

Rode it one time and found it interesting but unless you're local I wouldn't seek this out--lacked flow and nothing was marked. It looked like it was once a fun trail but with the park construction I think it has fallen into disrepair--too many trails zigging and zagging off in all directions without adequate markings. If you rode it enough you might piece together something fun but with so much else going on in the area I'd skip it if you're not local. If you're local then it's probably working as a nice after work ride. The ruins and creek were cool and the woods were dark and deep. Fun place but couldn't really get my heart pumping with the problems mentioned.

* Review edited 11/29/2011

This trail never ceases to surprise me. I ride here a lot, mostly because it's very close to where I live. Every time I ride here, I find new trails and combinations of routes to take. It takes a long time to get used to the full layout of the place because it's surrounded by neighborhoods and creeks. If you want to really explore everything thing here, you need to look carefully. Be willing to cross a creek at the slightest indication of a trail on the other side. It's as if there are secret passageways all round the creeks.

I rode Waterworks for over two hours yesterday and left knowing that I had left a lot of the trails untouched.

* Review edited 8/13/2011

It's OK for in-town, but it's very small. You can ride all over the place in a very short amount of time.

As of May 17th the entrances and the first part of the trail are under construction until the bridges are done. According to the worker on site, it should be done in less than a month from now.

My home away from work (since I work at home). :) I ride here about twice a week and enjoy it too much. There are a great mix of short trails here that when connected make for a challenging ride. There are some basic warm-up windey singletracks and then some pretty steep drops, some of which I haven't tackled yet. There are some good technical areas as well. I am a newbie as of December 2010 and have been learning a great deal here. I highly recommend this valuable chunk of land in the middle of Atlanta. It may take you a couple of visits to put a good flow together but when you do, it's a blast! It's only six miles from my house so it makes for a great break during the day.

Miles of trails here - if you know where to look. It's easy to explore the singletrack off the paved path - just be courteous to hikers you encounter on the trails.

Bikers have "cleaned" all these trails in 2010. There are 5 sections of Waterworks. There are two entry points from the new bridge trail that access the North Face, POS, and the trail to the power lines. * Review edited 11/24/2010

* Review edited 11/24/2010

It seems that the construction project is finally done. They put in a 1 mile walking trail with a huge elevated boardwalk that runs along one of the creeks. Most of the trails here are unmarked old hiking trails but you can bring your bike and link them up for about 1.5-2 miles of riding. It's actually a pretty cool area to explore with old ruins and a lot of graffitti art if you are into that sort of thing. Some parts of the trails will be a technical challenge while others are smooth sailing.