Looking for Places to Camp NW GA

[justplinkin]

I apologize in advance for the long winded message. I live in Marietta GA and looking for some good places in NW GA. Im pretty new to hammock camping. All the trips I've been on were car camping trips to Lake Conasauga, Fort Mountain and campgrounds around Lake Allatoona

I would like to do something a little more remote that will require a couple of hours hike. I've never hiked with anything more then a day back. I'm concerned about my abilities. My other big issue is I drive a little Honda Fit. It does not do well driving lots miles on the old forestry roads. I enjoyed lake conasauga but both trip resulted in flat tires.

Will the backcountry sites at at Cloudland Canyon be remote enough? Are there any nice places to camp that would be on a ridge with a good view for sunrise or sunset. Does anyone know about Johns Mountain or Pigeon Mountian WMA

If anyone has suggestions please let me know





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[TrailSlug]

Check out Cohutta Wilderness for some very nice hiking trails. Check out Evans video on the area.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4N8f2_T9tk

[skater]

I don't know what you would consider "remote enough" but Cloudland Canyon would make a good overnighter with a great view. You could also head up GA 60 to Woody Gap, hike either east or west on the AT to a nice ridgeline with a morning view. Fairly short hike either direction. Might not be enough of a hike for what you want but wasy on your car. Cohutta Wilderness as suggested above has several nice hikes as well. If you want to challenge yourself, you might try Coosa Backcountry trail out of Vogel State Park. Only 12 miles but recommended you do it as a 2-day trip.

[johnspenn]

I apologize in advance for the long winded message. I live in Marietta GA and looking for some good places in NW GA. Im pretty new to hammock camping. All the trips I've been on were car camping trips to Lake Conasauga, Fort Mountain and campgrounds around Lake Allatoona

I would like to do something a little more remote that will require a couple of hours hike. I've never hiked with anything more then a day back. I'm concerned about my abilities. My other big issue is I drive a little Honda Fit. It does not do well driving lots miles on the old forestry roads. I enjoyed lake conasauga but both trip resulted in flat tires.

Will the backcountry sites at at Cloudland Canyon be remote enough? Are there any nice places to camp that would be on a ridge with a good view for sunrise or sunset. Does anyone know about Johns Mountain or Pigeon Mountian WMA

If anyone has suggestions please let me know

The Cohutta Wilderness is an excellent place to hike and camp, but as you have discovered there is quite a bit of unpaved road driving to get out there. If you could find your to the top of Panther Creek Falls, I hear the sunsets from there can be spectacular.

Cloudland Canyon is beautiful, and we have camped out in the primitive sites, but the park is not as remote as you might think. We heard road noise, sirens, dogs barking and trains throughout the night when we stayed there.

Check out Cohutta Wilderness for some very nice hiking trails. Check out Evans video on the area.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4N8f2_T9tk

See comment above about this area. Evan's videos are worth watching though, I'm a subscriber! That dude is hardcore, sleeping on the ground under that little bitty tarp lol.

I don't know what you would consider "remote enough" but Cloudland Canyon would make a good overnighter with a great view. You could also head up GA 60 to Woody Gap, hike either east or west on the AT to a nice ridgeline with a morning view. Fairly short hike either direction. Might not be enough of a hike for what you want but wasy on your car. Cohutta Wilderness as suggested above has several nice hikes as well. If you want to challenge yourself, you might try Coosa Backcountry trail out of Vogel State Park. Only 12 miles but recommended you do it as a 2-day trip.

You can do the same at Neel Gap, Hogpen Gap, Unicoi Gap... wherever there's an AT road crossing you can park there and hike as far (or as short) as you want, and there are typically multiple campsites.

I hiked the Coosa Backcountry Trail over the holidays. We did it in one day but it would certainly make a great 2 day trip.

Amicolola State Park- only a little over an hour from Marietta. You can hike out on the AT approach trail, and there are several areas to camp along the way to Springer, or hike all the way to Springer and stay there, hike back the next day.

Lots and lots of opportunities, we've only scratched the surface! Good luck!

[johnspenn]

Here's a thread where I asked for similar information a few months ago-
https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...l-Georgia-Folk

Also you asked about John's Mt and Pigeon Mt WMAs- We hiked the Keown Falls/John's Mountain loop trail a while back, but the parking area said day use only, so you might have to do a little research on the camping situation there.

We stayed in the Pigeon Mountain WMA back in August. It was hot, dry, and unfortunately not a real good trip for us. We stayed on the very north end as you come to the area from LaFayette. There are some really neat features in the area like the Estelle Mine Trail and Rocktown, and some caves, but I haven't found a good place to camp there yet, and I'm not real familiar with how to go about camping in WMAs in general.

[justplinkin]

Bummed to hear about Cloudland. I sure don't want to hear road noise. When you camped on Pigeon mountain, were you on the WMA section? There is supposed to be a designated primitive camping site on it.

I checked with the DNR and they told me camping was OK. I didn't ask but I don't think you need a hunting license with a WMA stamp be be on the land if your'e not hunting or fishing.

[johnspenn]

Bummed to hear about Cloudland. I sure don't want to hear road noise. When you camped on Pigeon mountain, were you on the WMA section? There is supposed to be a designated primitive camping site on it.

I checked with the DNR and they told me camping was OK. I didn't ask but I don't think you need a hunting license with a WMA stamp be be on the land if your'e not hunting or fishing.

You do need a GORP Pass, you can get them online at the DNR website.

We camped on the north end of the WMA, just sort of carved out our own little area to camp in on the edge of some large clearings. It definitely wasn't a designated camping spot.

[Chill-a-While]

I love the Cohutta trails, I most recently did the Jacks River trail. Not much in the way of ridgeline views, but the JR falls were great. Plenty of camp sites scattered along the trail either side of the falls starting maybe 1/2 mile either direction, so no worries getting a site to yourself. And I loved the stone "recliners" built around the fire pits at several of the sites, talk about back country luxury! There are a couple of ways to get there. All easily accessible with your car. The easiest and shortest is the beach bottom trail, the others are probably not great for a beginner hike as you have to ford the river several times.

One of my favorite spots on the AT in north GA is Tray mtn. I try to get up there at least once a year. There is a good view from the cliff at the summit, tho it's not very well known as you have to go roughly 1/3 mile off the AT via a small, unmarked trail through the rhododendrons to get to it.

There are a lot of good places on the AT, Blood mountain, Whitley gap, woods hole, hawk mtn. All easily accessible in a days hike in.

Cloudland is beautiful, tho too heavily trafficked for my tastes.

Good luck and enjoy your adventures thoroughly!

[MrsKD]

I could not recommend Panther Creek more!

I drive a Ford Focus hatchback because I wanted a Honda Fit but could get Ford employee pricing so I totally hear you and the drive is mostly, if not all paved.

We went in July and it was crowded but, this time of year with swimming being out, I can't see that being an issue. I took my husband there for his first backpacking trip and it was great.

I will say this though, in July, the temps in the valley where the waterfall is reached 40 degrees at night. Prepare to keep yourself warm. It is no fun to wake up shivering or worse. There are loads of tutorials on here for DIY underquilts or pea pods. Campsite selection also plays a big factor in staying warm. If you walk on down past the falls and over the hill, there are some decent spots to hang well back from the water.

[tch0901]

I realize this post isn't super recent, but wanted to give my $0.02. We just spent the weekend in the Crockford-Pigeon Mountain WMA and enjoyed every minute of it. My boys (ages 16 and 13) hammock. The area is gorgeous... It does require a GORP and the camping loop we stay on is well managed. You drive further up the mountain in the WMA and there's a pulloff with a trail to a super cool waterfall. Further up again is the trailhead for the 1.2 mile hike to Rocktown. It's natural rock formations with a fat man squeeze, tornado rock, rock climbing, bouldering. Such a neat nature's playground. Further still up the mountain brings you approximately 2000 ft. in elevation with a fantastic view. We really enjoyed our time there and would definitely go back.