Bear Creek Nature Center — Attraction in Chattahoochee Hills

We had a wonderful time at Bear Creek Nature Center. It is located a mile away from Cochran Mill Park and actually connects to Cochran Mill Park via an easy to walk trail. Cochran Mill's parking lot was overcrowded (it was a Saturday) and there was a police officer there giving tickets to anyone not parked in a proper parking spot. Bear Creek had plenty of parking available and was perfect for a family stop, so we decided to go there first and walked the green trail to see the nearby waterfall at Cochran Mill Park afterwards. There were 4 different hiking trails available.

Bear Creek Nature Center just recently opened this year and is a non-profit organization. They have various rescue animals to see (like bats, snakes, a small alligator, a gecko, a lizard, turtles, as well as a small aviary with owls). There was also a pond outside with turtles and fish you can feed if you like.

We were given a private tour of all of the live animals, and also got to see various animal fossils and geodes. Bear Creek is apparently the only Nature Center in Georgia with live bats on exhibit. The kids were even allowed to pet the gecko, which they were excited about. It costs $2 per vehicle and $3/person over the age of 3. I'd happily go again and...

After a bad experience with the director of this nature center, I do not recommend visiting here. We drove an hour to visit for their bat festival and arrived at 1PM. Their website and their signs on location said they open at 11AM on Saturday, and there were no signs indicating otherwise. We followed the signs saying that admission was purchased at the cabin, so we parked for that, intending to walk the trails until the festival started. While I was in the restroom, I could hear some commotion in the entrance area, and once I got out, my husband tells me urgently that we have to leave. Once we're in the car, he tells me that a woman (he later found her picture on the website and confirmed it's the director.) got really ugly with him in the entrance area of the cabin and told him that they weren't open until 2 and "you need to go." If there was a problem with us being there and they needed us to leave, that would've been fine, but I could hear her snapping at him from the bathroom and being ugly. There is no excuse to talk to anyone like that who has made an honest mistake. We were so upset by the whole thing that, despite planning for this for several weeks, we just went home, and we have no intentions of...

We visited for the first time during the "Feathers and Flowers" event. We have a toddler who is obsessed with bees, butterflies, and birds. We had a wonderful time! The facility is in the process of making upgrades. But, what we've seen so far is a good start. The reptiles, amphibians, and bats were very cool. All of the staff and volunteers were so welcoming and engaging. Especially with a curious little one. We didn't get to explore much of the walking path around the pond because nap time was approaching. But we will definitely be back! And hopefully the Feather and Flower event happens again. We met so many knowledgeable people about birds, bees, monarch butterfly, and...