Georgia Family Vacation Recommendation

[crux]

Hello,
I just moved from Colorado to Atlanta with my wife. My brother lives in Vail and every year my parents would come to Colorado and we would rent a cabin from VRBO and hang out, hike and walk around small mountain towns. Some of our favorite trips were Leadville and Buena Vista. I was wondering if anyone had advice on Georgia - a nice town where we can base ourselves out of and get a few day hikes in. Don't need anything too extreme but my parents are in very good shape for being in their 60s. Just something wooded, lakes, waterfalls some elevation and hopefully we can run into some southern marmots.

Thanks!

[Dave B]

Four words.

Big Frog - Cohutta Wilderness. Great Appalachian hiking. May I suggest Jacks Falls on a weekday.

I miss living in Atlanta quite a bit actually. I wouldn't move back there from CO, but Northern GA is pretty sweet.

[EatinHardtack]

Born and raised in the North Georgia Mountains.

Check out the following towns, Hiawassee or Dahlonega would be my first choices. Blairsville, Cleveland or Clayton would be my second choice. Any of these locations will give you a good base of operations for day hikes on the AT or other of the many trails in the area. Lots to explore in the Mountains in Georgia and there's a ton of history to learn about also. Shoot me a PM if you need anymore info. Miss those mountains but I really enjoy the ones out here now. Zach

[CaptPenner]

I agree with Davey. Jacks River Falls is a great area, but can be real busy on the weekends. Also look at Panther creek falls from the Hickory Creek Trailhead. It is a pretty hike once you get to the valley floor and are hikeing along the Conasauga River. It is a great hike even if you do not go all of the way to the Panther Creek Falls. The hike has several creek crossings unless you get there from the Three Forks Trailhead.

Also, check Amicalola State Park. There are cabins and a Lodge. Plus there is the Len Foote Hike in Lodge. I have hiked there several times, but never stayed over night so I cannot give you a report on that. From the park is a 6 mile hike to Springer Mtn (Southern end of the AT).

http://www.gastateparks.org/AmicalolaFalls" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


For short hikes with Southern History check out Kennesaw Mtn National Battlefield and Stone Mountain State Park.


Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Scott Penner
Kennesaw GA

[lonewolf210]

I would also recommend Amicola. I have also hiked by the lodge before and it looked pretty nice and is right at the beginning of the AT. The Cohutta Wilderness is also awesome but I am not sure about the state of lodging there I have only done backpacking there.

Depending on which side of ATL you are on Kennesaw Mountain is awesome for day stuff and a while back was rated as some of the best running trails in the country by runner's world IRRC. My cross country trained there when I was in HS and it has an awesome 13-16 mi loop.

Driving to Tennessee yields a lot of options. If you want to do something pretty unique I would recommend a trip down to the okefenokee swamp

[edhaman]

In northeast Georgia you may want to look at the town of Helen, which would give you access to a couple of state parks (Unicoi and Tallulah Falls). In the northwest, Cloudland Canyon State Park is nice (near Trenton). Not in a mountainous area, but interesting, is Providence Canyon State Park, about 40 miles south of Columbus. It's a canyon cut by erosion from poor farming techniques, and looks like something from Utah or Arizona. When I lived in Florida, I used it's 6 or 8 mile backpacking trail to test out new equipment before climbing Mt. Whitney.