Exercise is good for your body Mind and Spirit.

So is spending time in The Great Outdoors on this episode, we'll explore a few ways to get outside and get healthy coming up on Georgia Outdoors.

funding for Georgia, Outdoors has been made possible by a grant from Mary Hall, Singleton, and by the Emily Foundation, From hiking and biking to canoeing and swimming.

There are many ways to get your exercise outside research suggests that even low impact activity in the outdoors, stimulates endorphins and contributes to both mental and physical health across Georgia.

There are thousands of acres of land open for you to explore Georgia's Parks national forests, Wildlife, refuges, lakes, and other public lands are great places for wildlife.

Doing hiking Hunting Fishing and general enjoyment.

For the more adventurous Georgia State Parks, host, an annual series of events to help you get in shape, the try, the parks Triathlon series is a challenging competitive, and fun, way to get out and enjoy the great outdoors.

He's here.

This race is the final race of the 6 race.

Try the Park series.

Well, we looked at a lot of places and we felt the state parks were a good fit.

They're generally located near a lake, and they give you a good off-road type setting where you're not in a congested area, just a good way to introduce the athletes to the parks that are in Georgia.

We found as we started series.

Most people didn't know there.

Any state parks just been kind of a good way to get people introduced to the parts and get the folks to come out High Falls State Park.

Park is located near Jackson, Georgia and is, well known for its Scenic hiking trails and waterfalls are Falls State.

Park is a great place to come visit.

The uniqueness is that we're in the Piedmont area.

In the Piedmont area, is a nice blend of different topography.

We have the highest waterfall in the Piedmont area.

121 FT elevation drop.

The High Falls Triathlon attracts about 500 participants a year and it's a classic Sprint Triathlon, featuring swimming biking and running.

In order for the race to run smoothly athletes, use a designated transition area to set up the gear.

They'll need later in the race, including bikes, towels, socks, and shoes per shot at a triathlon trying to find something to keep me motivated exercise.

So we're trying something new, trying something new, my friends teaching me how to set up my stuff, get everything prepped, get everything ready to roll, once the gear is set, the racers, head over to the lake to begin.

Today's race.

It's a 600 meter swim.

All of our swimmers are 600 meters with so many people competing in the event.

It can be difficult to keep track of athletes to help race officials.

Observe competitors.

Each swimmer is placed in a group known as a swim wave.

All yellow caps.

It's always real important to us just to have a good swim start.

Keep accountability.

Everybody's we can track the swimmers in and out of water and we generally have about five to eight swim waves each wave where their own color swim.

Cap helps us monitor them and in all the lifeguards on course can keep track of the swimmers.

Even though it's only the first leg of the race, the swim can be strenuous.

Well, I used to do just running and biking and then it was getting a little bit boring.

So a friend of mine talk to me about doing triathlons and I started doing them last year and the swings when the the hardest part because I haven't swum and I don't know, since I was in college, I actually was the last time after the swim contestants move to the transition area.

So they can prepare for the bike ride.

They come up from the lake and go into the transition area, they've got their bike and all their gear set up.

They come in as fast as they can.

Take their swim goggles off, put their bike gear on and head out for the bike ride.

We're some athletes, the transition areas, provide a much-needed, although brief break having a great time so far waiting on my son's is swimming right now.

So I'm thinking we'll probably be up here in about five minutes once athletes have swapped their swim caps for shoes.

They can leave the transition area and begin the bike ride.

This course, the bike ride left, the park, all the courses, leave the park way to go.

We did a fourteen point two miles Essentially down to High Falls, Road up to Highway, 36 and back in La Paz Park.

Road, the ride through the park, can be an exhilarating experience, such a gorgeous.

I mean I don't think I would ever come out or even know this was here.

Let's work for the races and I've actually been back to a couple Parks after that, so it's kind of nice to come and see different parts of Georgia.

I'm 69, the exercise, a lot of keeps you off of blood thinners, and cholesterol medicines, and all that other stuff.

So even though I'm getting up in years, I still got slow heartbeat, good help.

Nothing beats a day out, in the park.

Been doing triathlons for about 18 years now and just out here getting a tune-up before I go to World Championships in about 2 weeks over in Hamburg, Germany.

Once the bike Loop has been completed athletes return for their last transition before the run after a quick drink of water.

The athletes make their final Sprint toward the finish line.

Pretty flat course here at High Falls State Park is in for the Finish.

We got a good Hill coming back up here, but it's out back course.

They got about a mile and a half and amount of half back in for many athletes, the Run presents, the greatest challenge for me, it's always the run.

It's just hot and middle of the run.

You always say, why am I doing this?

But at the end of it, you always say, you know, you'll do it again.

Come on, guys.

Go go, go, go, go, go, go.

When Racers cross the finish line, volunteers are waiting with water in hand.

The racers aren't the only ones that are putting in hard, work for the race, volunteers are just as crucial to the triathlon as the athletes themselves.

There's probably about 60 to 80 people that are out here putting on a race everybody from lifeguards to the law enforcement Vehicles out on the course to the volunteers that marking the Letting athletes know which way to go in and out water.

After a quick cool down, it's time to check the results.

We use an electronic chip Timing System to provide live results throughout the race.

For all the athletes.

The goal is to give them instant results as soon as they finish the same system used in the Tour de France and the Olympic game.

So it's a quality accurate system, always anxious to see him and, you know, that's what they're here for their coming out, putting in a great effort, competing against each other and they want to see how they did.

So the idea is given those instant results, it's been a demanding day for these athletes.

And it's finally time for the awards ceremony and it birthplace one hour, 10 minutes, Christine Caster, of course, Awards aren't the only reason people come out to race.

The gym, just Boris me.

It's just, you know, fresh are different, scenery keeps things interesting, you know, just keep me motivated to keep doing it.

Last year, I did the try the parks and I went to three state parks that have never been to.

I never would have gone to otherwise.

And also, I like the challenge of it because You really have to push yourself to get through the three events.

I just like the challenge.

Enjoying the health benefits of being outdoors.

Doesn't necessarily mean Hard Exercise.

Even a more low impact activity, like, fishing Wildlife viewing or hiding gets you outside to reap.

The benefits of fresh air sunshine and the camaraderie of sport every summer, Unicoi State Park near Helen hosts outdoor activity day, an event, that allows young and old to get out and experience all sorts of outdoor activities, firsthand this Is a vent on National hunting and fishing day.

That we used to celebrate fishing and hunting and other Outdoor Sports and give people a chance to try something.

Maybe they've never tried before.

It is a combination of a lot of different outdoor recreational type activities, including skeet shooting fly tying fly fishing.

We have canoeing and Wildlife shows and hayrides and of course just a perfect spotless, we can do everything right here in one place.

One of the most popular attractions on outdoor activity.

Day is trout fishing from Thai.

Flying to Casting to hooking a trout participants get the full experience.

It's we've got some guys over there, teaching them how to tie flies, a lot of kids really enjoy doing.

It'll hands on things you know.

And there's some real love simple flies that they can't, I take it, lay it right on top of that hook.

And we're going to wrap around come around again.

Well, some proof lies catches me to try out as a real fancy as sophisticated as an excellent job.

Alright, that's if you can do it, main difference in fly fishing and spin fishing.

Know you have a fly line, which cast a fly when the fly will be real.

Most have no weight to it.

And so the fly line pull Was the fly out as you cast it.

Of course, nothing beats actually getting out on the creek and hooking a fish or two.

The great thing about this event is that it's held on National hunting and fishing day.

And what that means is you don't have to have a fishing license and you can come out and actually fish on the creek.

We get a lot of kids at these events that have either only been fishing once or twice or never and this is the time to catch that first fish.

So you hear a lot of yelling and screaming and a lot of smiles on the faces outdoor.

We need a also gives people an opportunity to get a closer look at some of our native Wildlife species with live animal shows through those pointed long pointed Wings Built For Speed.

Other animals are on display to throughout the day expert.

Hunting dog trainers are on hand to show off their best students for the hunting dog program retrievers and pointers is so kids can see the difference and see.

What a hunting dog does.

I've always had a passion for her bird dogs.

I thought we'd bring the puppy out and the retriever begin with puppies are great, kid, magnets.

And the retriever, it's more of a set visual hook having them.

Go out and bring back to duck and do a blind retrieve.

Visitors can experience other areas of hunting as well from BB guns to shotguns.

Those who dare are given the chance to experience the thrill of shooting a Target in a safe and controlled environment.

We do the skeet shooting as an opportunity for people to have to do something.

They've probably never had an opportunity to do before and that shoot at a moving Target with a shotgun.

We have some throwers Throw the Clay birds and you line up with a shotgun and get a chance to eat.

Break labored, we do some BB gun air rifle or anybody wants to try that.

Also, write up beyond that we do the archery with the traditional bow Hunters of Georgia as a group that comes out.

And does that every year with us, we're showing them the basics on shooting a traditional bow and the correct form and really, how easy it is to shoot a bow, one singer over 200.

Basically, do is show them how to hold a bow with split finger.

Aisle two fingers under water bug, called a mediterranean-style.

Show them how to hold a bowl without it, hitting the arm, the correct form.

And basically, that's how to enjoy Archer that was good.

Finally, activity day attendance.

Get the chance to paddle a canoe on Unicoi is 53.

Acre Lake.

We have canoeing the idea of the canoeing venue.

There is that you basically show up, we give you canoeing 101.

This is a This is a backstroke.

We give you some safety tips on how to not fall over in your canoe and and then we let you go out and paddle around.

Canoeing and kayaking are good ways to get exercise, but perhaps the most popular and easiest way to begin getting fit outside is hiking and Georgia has hundreds of miles of hiking trails to tackle.

If you're near Atlanta Panola Mountain State Park is a great place to start.

Piniella mountain is one of the closest parks to Metro Atlanta.

And for years we've kind of been considered a hidden treasure and I think lately we people have been finding us a bit more from guided Mountain, hikes to the paved multi-use trail Panola Mountain State Park.

Offers lots of opportunity to stretch your legs on the trail in the summer.

The park.

Even offers a special guided Twilight hike.

The Twilight hiked is a, is a ranger-led hike and we take folks Out on the multi-use path.

And from there, we kind of take a little side, shoot off that trail and take them through what we call, our power of flight area and that's an area.

We've been restoring for several years to get it back to its native vegetation, that's actually part of the Wetland out there.

You can see where the vegetation sort of changes, its tons of wildlife out there.

It's one of the best spots in the park to look at Wildlife, it's just anyone know what, dragonflies eat bugs.

Yeah, other bugs.

A little mosquitoes during our Twilight hike.

We walk at different Paces.

The good thing about hiking Outdoors is you're going to run into different situations.

You're going to have pills that you have to climb up, your heart rates, going to change and fluctuate.

You're going to have easy areas to sort of recuperate from and then you're going to have more challenging areas that you have to possibly go uphill.

If you're looking for something a little more off the beaten path, you may want to get off the ground with tree climbing and Panola State Park offers a good introduction.

Into this growing pastime.

This tree climbing experience is very different from what you remember from days in your backyard.

Today is just a open climb or introductory climb and that's what we're going to have.

The general public come in.

We're going to get them in the proper gear harness helmet and they're going to be hooked on rope and they're going to access the canopy of the tree just for an experience.

Plus it's called climbing not down rope but Loop climbing on rope.

You're on a very safe climbing system if they let go it pauses them where they are.

So there's no fall effect and and you don't To worry about your mother saying get it out of that tree.

Okay, now do it by yourself, stand up slide up, sit down, relax and take your time, take a break now slide up your foot because you're just kind of hanging loose from a tree and you don't have to worry about falling.

It feels really safe and I don't know.

It's just really nice if it's cool.

Basically you just I'm just resting here just put my foot underneath me.

Quote my not quite up my hands step up slide, my and relax, pretty easy from swinging.

Between the branches, to just hanging out, there are lots of different techniques and tricks to Triumph once you're up in the tree last week, my, I went with my cousin and they flipped him upside down.

And so he went down upside down.

So I had to so scary at first, but it was fun.

It's a real good.

Workout is work your leg muscles and our muscles are well you're using your whole body.

So this is an aerobic exercise and You're outside enjoying, what all these beautiful things that Georgia has been blessed with.

If you're not up for climbing a tree, there are plenty of other healthy challenges in state parks.

You might want to try the canyon climbers club for a small fee, participants are given a card and receive a hole punch after hiking each of the four, Canyons on the list Tallulah, Gorge Amicalola Falls, Cloudland, Canyon and Providence Canyon.

The Georgia Outdoors crew producers, Brandon Arnold Andrew Marshall, and Lauren Baker decided to take the challenge.

The first Canyon to tackle is Tallulah Gorge a 1000 foot, deep Canyon in Northeast Georgia.

That's one of the most spectacular sights in the state.

For each for the for Parks have X amount of stairs.

We have 310 at a 45-degree descent down to our suspension bridge, lot of People will go down and walk across the bridge and go up the other side and there's even more stairs on the other side.

340 over there today, Tallulah Falls State Park attracts, thousands of visitors, a year to gaze across the Canyon from the rim and to explore the canyon deeper via the stairs on this cool fall day.

Our crew definitely broke a sweat climbing down to the suspension bridge Tallulah Gorge is one of my favorite places in Georgia.

Just beautiful, it's a great place to visit and Using geologic formation.

I really like Tallulah Gorge some great Scenic overlooks and it's not too strenuous and it's just really beautiful place.

The waterfall is it to we would go or just beautiful and I really like The Swinging Bridge as well, after completing the canyon stairs and getting their cards, punched it was on to Amicalola Falls for the Georgia Outdoors crew, though not a canyon climbing, the 604 steps to the top of the falls.

The tallest cascading waterfall.

East of the Mississippi provided quite a workout as they climb up the steps there.

And to follow the base of the falls basically all the way up to the first platform and then the top of the falls will become visible with a name.

Derived from a Cherokee word, meaning tumbling Waters, Amicalola Falls is an impressive sight.

Indeed and a glow is different because it's not a canyon, it's a waterfall, but it's no less.

Strenuous, Amicalola is probably one of the more strenuous Canyons because of all the stairs and it was really pretty, though.

Uncle Falls.

I really like because it's the entry point to the Appalachian Trail.

So in addition to having a wonderful waterfall and trails that you can walk, you can see Backpackers starting off on this great journey there and it's just a lot of history to it too.

After climbing Amicalola and Tallulah Gorge the outdoors.

Crew had two more Canyons to tackle cutting into the 200-foot.

High plateau of Lookout Mountain Cloudland.

Canyon is one of Georgia's most spectacular views.

Cloud.

And can you start the top walk down towards, going down into the canyon.

At the top, you'll have views of Lookout Valley views of the Shale layers, the Sandstone layers.

You'll see a lot of the younger rock, which is the Sandstone.

Did you go down?

You'll go through different layers of sandstone.

You go through layers of shale, which has a lot of vegetation as you get closer to the bottom, the rocks will get darker and being there for so long, the geology of cloud and Canyon.

It's back to the Mississippian and Paleozoic Era back in that time.

This part of the world was ocean.

This was around the shoreline, but a hike after getting their cards punched at Cloudland, that was one more Canyon for the Georgia Outdoors crew to climb.

Providence Canyon is the only one of the four state park Canyons located in South Georgia Providence, Canyon State Park is an awesome place.

We have 16 canyons and all their 43 different colors of sands on the canyon walls, there's a three-mile trail that circles nine of the Canyons.

You can actually go off the trail and into the Canyons himself.

It's also the only one created not by geologic forces, but by poor farming practices.

The Pioneers moved to this area in the 1820s and the topography at that time was Rolling Hills, where they stripped all the natural vegetation and farm cotton.

Here thing is, they plow downhill and the soil here is very Sandy.

The cannon started forming like 20 or 30 years.

Once you reach the canyon bottom, you're treated to a spectacular array of color along the canyon walls.

This unusual look has earned Providence the nickname, The Little Grand Canyon of Georgia Province.

Canyon is Really neat.

It's different because of the way it formed from the poor farming practices.

It's got.

These multi-layer sand formations.

This is amazing Beauty.

Feel like you're in the great out west because you see these Great Walls of red dirt and white clay with Providence completed, the crew finished the Georgia state parks Canyon climbers Challenge and receive their shirts.

But more importantly, they saw some incredible sights and got a good workout in the process.

Sometimes you need a challenge to get you outdoors and if you're one of those people, you might want to try geocaching, all you need is a GPS unit and a spirit of Adventure.

This group is gathering to participate in the annual Georgia, geocachers Association challenge, but what is geocaching?

So described as a high-tech treasure hunt or high-tech scavenger hunt, use handheld GPS has to find boxes of Trinkets and yv in the woods.

The Georgia geocachers Association formed in 2001 and is the first geocaching organization of its kind in the world.

This event taking place at the dossett trails.

Nature Center brings out geocaching enthusiasts from across the state.

We have 28 caches hidden out here in the woods for people to go find and those caches are envelopes with poker cards and them.

After three hours, we give them the coordinates after three hours ago.

Find them, they come back here and we play poker game with those cars that they found.

The main thing is to get together.

Have fun.

We're going to have food and camaraderie.

We just enjoy each other's company as well.

After a few Announcements.

The groups receive coordinates of different geocaches hidden on the property.

The event brings participants from all skill levels.

The tarbush family is new to the sport.

So we tagged along with them to see how they do.

He got into it first, everybody in the family kind of got pulled into it from there, excluding me.

Usually a good excuse for walking the woods.

I love.

And I left a walk in the woods.

That's the best part about it.

I doing that with with Daddy.

We've discovered places that I had no idea sometimes, just a few miles from where I live.

How far away are we?

This cash has a special surprise waiting for the family.

This is one that was disguised as a stump under bridges.

The event ends with an award ceremony.

For kids, it's kind of the fun of finding buried treasure for adults.

It's the journey, more than the find, it's going out in the woods, finding stuff for some people.

It's exercise companionship, whether you're out exploring the trails hunting or fishing climbing a tree, or even pushing yourself to the Limit.

There are plenty of ways to get exercise in the outdoors in Georgia.

So, get out there and break a sweat while getting healthy.

Matter where you are.

Air pollution is a growing concern everywhere and car exhaust is one of the leading culprits.

Do your part to help cut down on carbon emissions by trying some of these commute Alternatives, share a ride.

Carpooling will save you gas time and money, biking and walking are good alternatives for someone who lives close to work.

Get in shape while doing your part to improve air quality, a fast and inexpensive way to commute to work is to use the transit system.

Teleworking offers more benefits than the Absence of the daily commute, it can reduce stress, increase productivity and save you time and money for more information on commute Alternatives, visit the Clean Air campaign at their website funding for Georgia.

Outdoors has been made possible by a grant from Mary Hall Singleton and by the Emily Foundation