Walk the boardwalk over Orkin Lake on a Saturday morning and it feels complete. The concrete decking is smooth, the railings are new, the benches are placed at just the right intervals for catching your breath before the trail curves back toward Morgan Falls Overlook Park. Somewhere down the hill, dogs are working off a week's worth of energy in the fenced yard at Morgan Falls River Park. Out on Bull Sluice Lake, a kayak or two drifts past, no current to fight, because the water here barely moves.
Most people who use this stretch assume it's the whole story. It isn't. Two things happened in Sandy Springs this month that make the gap between "finished" and "planned" impossible to ignore: the city ran its first paddleboard race on the water this loop is supposed to reach, and the Sandy Springs Conservancy confirmed the next piece of the trail is still waiting on a City Council vote.
What's actually built
The boardwalk you're standing on is Segment 2A of the Springway Trail, and it opened in May 2025, not this year. It runs 1.88 miles, connecting Morgan Falls Overlook Park to Roswell Road at Cimarron Parkway, and it was not a quick build. Crews broke ground in December 2022 and didn't finish until more than two years later, in part because they discovered bedrock under Orkin Lake mid-construction, a surprise that pushed the project's cost to $8.5 million. Georgia Outdoor Stewardship funding covered $3 million of that, and the Sandy Springs Conservancy contributed $30,000 to help the city secure the grant in the first place.
What you're walking on is real: an 8 to 12 foot wide paved multi-use path, retaining walls, drainage structures, a pedestrian bridge, and the boardwalk itself, which passes the city's dog park on its way to the lake. It's a genuinely finished, genuinely pleasant piece of infrastructure. It is also, by the city's own trail plan, roughly a third of what's coming.
The loop that isn't a loop yet
Segment 2A is one slice of something called the Morgan Falls Park Connector, a planned 5.4 mile loop that's supposed to eventually link Morgan Falls Overlook Park, Big Trees Forest Preserve, and the Chattahoochee River. The connector is broken into four sections on the city's map: 2A, 2C, 2D, and 2E. Only one of them exists on the ground today.
| Segment | Status as of August 2026 | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2A | Open since May 2025 | 1.88-mile paved path and Orkin Lake boardwalk, $8.5 million |
| 2C | In design | 1.6-mile extension through mature forest, past rock outcroppings and waterfalls, to Roswell Road |
| 2E | Pre-construction | Conservancy contributed $10,000 in 2024 toward design costs |
| 2D | Not yet in active planning | No public timeline |
That's the piece worth sitting with. The loop that regulars talk about, the one that will eventually let you walk or bike a continuous circuit around the park without touching a car, is still missing roughly two-thirds of its planned mileage. And the citywide Springway Trail Plan this connector belongs to is bigger still: 31 miles of paths meant to eventually stitch together Ridgeview Park, Windsor Meadows, and Abernathy Greenway into one loop around central Sandy Springs. Segment 2A is a small down payment on a much larger idea.
Why the next piece is stuck at a vote
Segment 2C is where the next real progress will happen, and it's further along than a line on a master plan. The city, the PATH Foundation, and a design firm called Kaizen Collaborative have been working through the route since last year. It would start at Morgan Falls Overlook Park, follow a tributary of the Chattahoochee through wooded terrain with rock outcroppings and small waterfalls, and connect back to Roswell Road, adding 1.6 miles to the loop.
When it's built, the Morgan Falls loop grows from 1.8 miles to roughly 3.4 miles, moving the park closer to what the Conservancy has described as a long-term vision of a continuous 5.6-mile loop. That number is worth sitting with too. Even after 2C is finished, the loop will still be about 60 percent short of the full vision, with Segment 2D still undefined and Segment 2E only funded through the pre-construction stage.
The City Council is expected to consider funding for 2C before the end of 2026. Until that vote happens, this is design work and advocacy, not construction. The Conservancy has been encouraging residents to contact their council member if they want to see the project move.
The race that happened anyway
None of that stopped the city from putting the water itself to use. On August 15, 2026, Sandy Springs hosted its inaugural SUP Showdown at Morgan Falls Overlook Park, inviting paddlers from across the Southeast to compete on Bull Sluice Lake. It's a new event, distinct from the Stand-Up for the Hooch Race that High Country Outfitters has run here for years with 2-mile and 6-mile courses. Two different races now share the same stretch of river, one newly minted by the city, one an established annual fixture.
That the SUP Showdown could launch at all says something about how much of Morgan Falls already works without the finished loop. The park's floating dock has handled paddlers for years. High Country Outfitters runs a seasonal paddle shack near the dock, renting kayaks, canoes, and SUPs from April through October. Bull Sluice Lake, the wide, slow-moving pool created by the Morgan Falls Dam, has no real current, which is exactly why it's forgiving for a beginner on a board and why a race can be staged here without whitewater complications. If you're planning a paddle trip of your own rather than watching a race, it's worth checking Georgia Power's real-time release schedule for Morgan Falls Dam first, since water levels here shift with scheduled turbine releases rather than staying constant.
What this means if you use the park regularly
If your routine already runs through Morgan Falls, a few things are worth knowing heading into fall.
- The dog park sits at Morgan Falls River Park, down the hill from the Overlook side, with its own gravel lot and boat launch access. Dogs on the connector trail itself need to stay leashed.
- Pavilions at Morgan Falls Overlook Park are first come, first served unless reserved through the city, and group capacity depends on which one you book, somewhere between 60 and 100 people depending on the source you check.
- The next visible progress on the trail won't come from construction crews this year. It will come from a City Council vote on 2C funding, expected before year's end.
And if you're looking for the next reason to be outside, mark September 25 and 26 for the Blue Stone Arts & Music Festival back at City Springs, now in its fourth year, with more than 60 artists and free admission. It's a different corner of Sandy Springs than Morgan Falls, but it's the same underlying pattern: a city building out its public spaces one funded segment at a time, and residents getting real use out of each piece long before the whole picture is finished.
The boardwalk over Orkin Lake will keep feeling like the destination until the day 2C actually breaks ground. Until then, it's a very good third of a much bigger idea, and worth walking regardless.
Curious what a home near Morgan Falls or the Springway corridor is actually worth in today's market, or just want a second opinion on the neighborhood before you make a move? Christy Smith knows this stretch of Sandy Springs block by block. Let's Connect.
