NORTHEAST GEORGIA BLOG

Let me preface this by saying that we are novice hikers…about as novice as you can get.  We love the mountains and we like to stay in shape so we’ve started doing some hiking on the Appalachian Trail as often as we can.  The Appalachian Trail runs from Springer Mountain (Amicalola Falls area) to Bly Gap (not far from Clayton) and covers almost 80 miles here in Georgia.  Blood mountain is the highest point on the trail down here – we’ve yet to do that section.  We park a car at each point and away we go!

We started back in September and we’ve hit the following sections:  Woody Gap to Gooch Gap – this is up in the Suches / Dockery Lake area off Hwy 60 and requires you to use Forest Service dirt roads (as many of these sections do).  Woody Gap to Gooch Gap is just under 4 miles.  We considered it a fairly easy hike, even as rookies.

Our next conquest was Hightower Gap to Cooper Gap – once again you have to use the FS roads and the scenery is fabulous.  This little hike is a tick over 4 miles and is a little more strenuous.  About halfway through the hike is Horse Gap, then you climb over Sassafras Mountain.  Sassafras was our first glimpse of just how steep the trail can get – though most experienced hikers would consider this to be an easy walk.

The next stop on our tour is Three Forks to Hightower Gap – near Suches and on the old FS roads.  This was probably our most scenic hike yet and about the same distance, just under 4 miles.  Long Creek Falls is about a mile from Three Forks Gap and well worth the little side hike down to the waterfall – great little resting spot.  Approaching Hightower Gap we had to negotiate Hawk Mountain – we’re getting pretty good at this!

Finally – today.  I’m sitting here writing this post and man am I tired, a little sore too.  We almost bit off more than we could chew today but it turned out to be a spectacular day.  Perfect weather – we started our hike this morning with a cool October 45 degrees and I don’t think we ever saw 60.  Fabulous conditions.

Ok…here we go.  We started at Unicoi Gap just above Helen and ended up at Chattahoochee Gap over on Hwy 180 near Brasstown Bald.  The hike from Unicoi to Chattahoochee was about 4 miles – BUT – we had to take a 2.4 mile trail (Jacks Knob Trail) down to the parking lot from Chattahoochee Gap.  In simple terms, this little trail kicked our butts.

Starting at Unicoi Gap you climb over 1000 feet in elevation the first mile and a half – this was pretty tough on us with the thin air and cool temps but after an hour or so we adapted and were making pretty good time.  Blue Mountain is a monster with huge bolders all over the place.  The trail got very trecherous with the combination of wet slippery leaves, lots of rocks, and acorns.  At times we felt like we were hiking on ice!

All in all we ended up with almost seven miles under our belts and had another great day up on the AT.  I would recommend anyone take up this hobby – it’s inexpensive, keeps you in great shape, and allows you to explore the north Georgia mountains from a unique perspective.

Happy hiking.

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Filed under: RoadTrips, Sports - Recreation