Length:  1.2 miles one way

Difficulty: Strenuous

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield is the site of the beginning of the Atlanta Campaign during the Civil War.  Fighting began here June 19, 1864 and lasted until July 2. It is from this location that Sherman continued his March to the Sea burning miles wide of property from Atlanta to Savannah. One of three battlefields within the Park sits just in front of the visitors and Kennesaw Mountain, and on many weekends Civil War reenactments and demonstrations can be seen here.

The Trail:

While visitors can pay $2 for a shuttle to the top of Kennesaw Mountain, hikers will enjoy the rugged hike so close to Atlanta. The hike up Kennesaw Mountain begins behind the visitor center on a well marked path.

Kennesaw Mountain is 1808 feet above sea level. It is approximately a 700 foot incline from the Visitor Center to the mountain’s summit. The hike does not involve any technical difficulties, but is somewhat steep. The wide dirt path alternates between steep inclines and slow gradual climbs up the incline.

On weekends, the park can become very crowded with hikers, dog walkers, and trail runners, but the trail is so wide and spacious that the crowds don’t seem to be a big nuisance.

From the top of the trail, hikers will be treated to distant views of the Atlanta skyline. On a clear day, Stone Mountain can be seen in the distance just to the left of the Atlanta skyscrapers.

Directions:

From Barrett Parkway at the I-75 exit:

1.  Travel approximately 3 miles toward and past Hwy. 41.

2. Turn left onto Old Hwy. 41.

3. At the next light, turn right onto Stilesboro Road., the Visitor Center is on the left

Note: On nice Saturday and Sundays, the parking area at the visitor center can be full, and visitors will need to parallel park along the roadside prior to the visitors center.

Lafayette, Georgia

Distance: 1.0 miles

Difficulty: Easy

Blaze: Brownish Pink

Just outside of Lafayette, Georgia is a little known wildlife management area known as Crockford-Pigeon Mountain. Pigeon Mountain extends along the northwestern corner of Georgia crossing over into Alabama. The wildlife management area itself is packed with numerous miles of trails that are difficult to find. Most of the area is open to horseback riders, mountain bikers, and rock climbers.

The exception to this, is the area we recently visited, known as Rocktown. Rocktown is a day use only area for hikers and rock climbers. The area is known by most rock climbers in the south for its unique sandstone formations, and numerous climbing routes available for beginners and experts alike.

The most unique aspect of Rocktown’s geological formations are the sandstone hoodoos that dot the mountain top plateau. Hoodoos are tall thin spires of rock protruding out of the ground, and appear to be unconnected to any larger rock formations. There are several of these hidden among the bluffs and boulders of Rocktown, each of varying shape and height.

The trail to the Rocktown village is easier to hike than the drive up to it. Once atop Pigeon Mountain, the ugly brownish pink blazes bring hikers along an almost entirely flat one mile trail.

As hikers leave the parking area, the trail immediately crosses a bridge, and an old building foundation to the right. After this, the trail makes a very gradual climb along the sandy trail. Not long after the trail tops the small hill, one of several forks appear. Rocktown is covered in these trails that carry climbers out to numerous boulders that are scattered throughout the area. If one keeps left at the first fork, and follows the pink blazes, the major rock village area appears.

The first real signs of the major climbing area are two large bluffs that appear to surround both sides of the trail. A large boulder ceiling hovers over the trail in the area. Just past this point, the trail really ends, and hikers are left to explore and scramble around the hundreds of different rock formations in the area. Climbers could easily spend days exploring the sandstone formations, and still miss some of them. One of the most photographed formations in the area seems to be the Champagne Flute Hoodoo (larger Picture Above). While it is more fun to simply stumble around the area until its found, its GPS location is marked in the trail map below.

Even if rock climbing is not your thing, the top of most of these bluffs can be accessed with some simply scurrying somewhere. On the last day we visited, we didn’t do any real rock climbing, but were able to access several very tall bluffs to look off. Just be careful with the crevices that often cut these rocks in half. It would be easy to misjudge a leap over one, and suffer severe injuries. Of course, one could always go the other way, and explore under these crevices, just look out for snakes, spiders, and other wildlife. I recently read about one climber who scared a bobcat in one of the rock’s holes.

Rocktown is one of only a handful of places to explore on Pigeon Mountain. We plan to explore it all in the upcoming months, and leave details about other, lesser known trails.

Hood Overlook

It should be noted, that one of the best views in the area, can be had approximately two miles away from the Rocktown parking area. The Hood Overlook (pictured at top of article) provides an open view of the towns of Lafayette, Trion, Summerville, and even Johns Mountain and Taylor’s Ridge in the distance.

Directions From Downtown Lafayette, Georgia:

VEHICLES WITH HIGH CLEARANCE ARE RECOMMENDED

1. Turn onto Highway 193 and follow for 2.7 miles.

2. Turn left onto Chamberlain Road (a brown sign with an arrow indicates this is the direction to Crockford-Pigeon Mountain WMA).

3. Turn right in 3.3 miles onto a gravel road, marked with the entrance sign.

4. Pass the Visitor’s Center, and follow the gravel road up Pigeon Mountain. Follow the road over a series of switchbacks, until there a a junction with a brown sign.

5. To the left is the Hood Overlook. Turn right towards Rocktown Junction.

6. In 1.3 miles, turn left on a dirt road marked with a Dead End sign. This road ends at the parking area (really a muddy cul-de-sac) for Rocktown. The trail is on the right corner of the parking area.

Bahia Honda Key/, Big Pine Key, Florida   Bahia Honda State Park is a small Florida state park, but has the unique claim (like most things in the keys) of being Florida’s southernmost state park. Inside the park, visitors will find a number of beautiful, white sand beaches, hiking trails, a nature center, some local history surrounding railroad magnate Henry Flagler. Entrance Fee for the Park is $3.50 for single occupant vehicles, $6.00 for double-occupant, and an additional $0.50 for each additional occupant.

Sandspur Beach & Camping Area Once entering the park, visitors can turn left and heads towards Sandspur Beach and the Camping locations that are actually on the beach (for tent and popups only). Continuing left, visitors will find a one way road leading to the camping area on the right, and then a large parking area leading to one of the first beaches. Continue past this beach, and you will eventually reach a second parking area on the beach, as well as one of the two major hiking trails in Bahia Honda State Park. This trail, the Silver Palm Nature Trail forms a loop through, a hammock, mangrove area, and dune along the beach.     Loggerhead Beach & Butterfly Garden Some of the most beautiful parts of Bahia Honda State Park, however, are back in the other direction. If visitors were to take a right at the intersection after the entrance, heading south towards Loggerhead Beaches, they would soon find a park area on the left. This parking area provides a great location to visit the rest of the park, and is also where the kayaks are stationed for kayak rentals. Just past this parking area is a butterfly garden and a long winding trail that runs between Loggerhead beach and the ridge that Old Bahia Honda Bridge sits atop. Hike down this trail to see a number of Florida’s 2600 species of butterflies. Continue down this trail, and you will get wonderful glimpses of the beach before crossing under Old Bahia Honda Bridge.    After crossing under the bridge, you will notice an even more serene, beautiful beach called Calusa Beach. This beach has still, very blue green water, perfect swimming. To left will be a replica of Flagler’s Rambler. Continue walking down beach, and on the right you will see the sign for the trail head of Old Bahia Honda Bridge Trail (the other major hiking trail in Bahia Honda). Old Bahia Honda Bridge The Old Bahia Honda Bridge Trail begins climbing a dune from the above beach. The hike very short at than 0.2 miles. Hiking up the dune provides several overlooks over both sides of the island before reaching the bridge. Returning down the same path, and continuing along the beach, one will reach the Sand and Sea Nature Center, the Main Marina, and will be back to the parking area next to the butterfly garden. Buttonwood Camping Area The other major camping area in Bahia Honda is not far from the nature center. Buttonwood Camping area’s camp sites sit along the Camper’s Marina, and many provide excellent views of the marina and water. This camping area is more developed than the one on Sandspur, and allows RV’s as well as tents. These sites, however, are not on a beach. Camping Fees:

$31.49 for Campsites $136.30 for Cabins

Entry Fees: $3.50 single person vehicular access, $6 for double occupancy vehicle, $0.50 for each additional person up to 8. Activites in Bahia Honda Other than Hiking and beach going, Bahia Honda State Park offers a number of other activities.

Kayaking - Visitors can rent sea kayaks and depart ocean side from Loggerhead beach, or gulfside from the boat ramp by the marinas. Kayaks can be rented starting at $10 per hour to $30 for a half day.

Snorkeling – boat tours with snorkeling are available from Bahia Honda. Daily departures from the park leave at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Snorkelers travel to Looe Key Reef. Snorkelers should have about 1.5 hours of snorkeling. Prices begin at $29.95, plus an additional $8 for equipment rentals.

Fishing: Fishing is allowed at Bahia Honda, and the area attracts anglers trying to catch the feisty and large Tarpon. Other fish, such as grouper, snapper, bonefish and barracuda can also be caught at various areas in the park.

Directions: 1. From Key Largo, follow Highway 1 to Big Pine Key at Mile Mark 37. 2. The State Park Entrance is located on the left.

Distance: 300 Yards

Difficulty: Easy

Russell Cave National Monument  is one of 1500 caves in Jackson County, Alabama. While the cave pictured above is at least 7.5 miles long, visitors cannot enter the cave. Instead, visitors can hike 300 yards to the Russell Cave Shelter, a large opening where prehistoric people are believed to have used as long as 10,000 years ago.

The National Monument also has a museum at the trail head containing artifacts from the several tribes which used the shelter, as well as information on the natural and geologic developments of an area with more caves per square mile than any other county in America.

Directions:

From Chattanooga, Tennessee:
1. Go West on Interstate 24 for approximately 26.5 miles and take Exit onto Hwy. 72
2. Take U.S. Highway 72 West to County Road 75.
3. Turn Right onto County Road 75 and continue one mile.
4. Turn Right onto County Road 98 for four miles.
5. Turn Left into the entrance of the park.

Fort Pickens is one of several historic coastal defense forts built during the early 19th century to protect the Gulf Coast, Pensacola Bay and Mobile Bay from the threat of invasion, and that can still be visited today.

Part of the Gulf Island National Seashore, begun in 1829, and named after famed Revolutionary hero Gen. Andrew Pickens, Fort Pickens combined with Fort McRee to protect the entrance to Pensacola Bay.

The fort was one of only four forts in the South that maintained Union control during the Civil War (though McRee and neighboring Barrancas fell).

The largest of the coastal defense forts in the area, visitors should be sure to bring a good pair of hiking shoes to explore the grounds of the fort, which include the early 1829 construction and improvements to the batteries and artillery all the way up to World War II.

While visiting the Fort, visitors can also take time to enjoy views of the Pensacola lighthouse, as well as beautiful stretches of beach along the Fort Pickens road, including simultaneous views of the Gulf and Pensacola bay.

Entry Fees:  $8 per vehicle, good for one week, and also accepted in the Gulf Islands National Seashore, Florida District, including at Johnson Beach.

Directions: From Casino Beach at the center of Pensacola Beach:

1. Turn right onto Fort Pickens Road and travel 2.5 miles.

Other Nearby Coastal Defense Forts:

Fort Morgan

Fort McRee – Ruins can be accessed if one hikes to the end of Johnson Beach

.Fort Gaines on Dauphin Island

Difficulty: Easy

Length: 4 Miles

Starting from the Terrora Day Use, hikers can access both the North Rim and South Rim of Tallulah Gorge, as well as gain excellent views of the Dam and Tallulah lake that sit above it.

North Rim Trail

Starting near the restrooms at the entrance to the Day Use Area, hikers begin the trail by passing under the Hwy. 441 bridge. From there, one can opt to continue along a relatively flat dirt path to the beginning of the gorge floor staircase (Note: continuing down the stairs to the floor is prohibited without walking up to the interpretive center and getting a permit).

Along the trail are 5 observation areas with views of several of the falls and gorge floor. Continuing Past Observation Point #3 will bring hikers past the interpretive center to the North Wallenda Tower, Observation Point #1 and the North Wallenda Tower.

South Rim Trail

Returning back down the North Rim Trail to the 441 bridge (or one can make the entire loop by accessing the gorge floor trail (with a permit), crossing the bridge and continuing up the south side of the gorge) climbing the staircase by the bridge, and then following along the bridge’s sidewalk to the south side of the gorge rim.

From this side of the Gorge, hikers can gain views from Observation #6 and #7 of Hawthorne Pools, Tempest Falls, Hurricane Bridge, and the Interpretive Center on the other side of the falls.

This section of the hike runs very close to the highway, but a highway retaining wall with a beautiful mural and some stone seating areas can be seen as well.

Returning back to the vehicle does not require crossing the busy highway. On the return, a set of metal steps climbs back down the bridge on the south side, and provides even better views of the Tallulah dams, and stairs can be accessed across the bridge with another side walk going back to the Day Use area and lake.

At Christmas, the lake has a lit floating Christmas Tree.

Directions:

Tallulah Gorge Terrora Day Use Area is located just on the left past the Tallulah Gorge Bridge on Highway 441.

Length: Less than 0.2 miles

Difficulty: Easy

Located within the Toccoa Falls College campus, Toccoa Falls is a 186’ waterfall, one of Georgia’s tallest (though not the tallest, that honor belongs to Amicalola Falls). The Falls is, however, one of the best views of a freefalling waterfall one can have.

The hike to the falls is a very short, simple walk along the falls creek.

The Falls also serves as a reminder of the true power of Mother Nature. On November 6, 1977, after five days of heavy rains, the dam above Toccoa Falls burst sending a high powered flood of millions of gallons of water over the falls and throughout the lower lying areas on the college campus. 39 students and faculty were killed during the flood. A memorial stands at the base of the falls with the names of those who lost their lives that day.

NOTE:  An small entrance fee may be charged to hike up to the falls. On the Sunday morning we hiked to the Falls, no fee was taken, and no signs indicated a fee was to be paid.

Some reviews online that I have read after the fact have suggested a $2 fee was charged from hikers.

Directions:

From Toccoa, Georgia:

1. Follow US-17 ALT West from downtown Toccoa for approximately 0.4 miles

2. Turn left onto US-17 ALT/Toccoa Falls Road and travel 1.1 miles.

3. The sign below and college campus entrance will be on the left.

4. The Falls trail is at the very back of the campus, and the parking area/visitor center is located across from a small pond and beach.

Length:  2.5 miles one way

Difficulty:  Easy Hike to the Falls, Difficulty Rock Scramble to Falls Overlook

Ravens Cliff Falls is a three cascade waterfall located just outside of Helen, Georgia in Ravens Cliff Wilderness.

The hiking trail to the falls runs parallel to the falls is a relatively flat hike, with only a few minor hills that provide little difficulty.  Along the trail, hikers will parallel a very scenic Dodd Creek. The creek winds its way through the valley floor at a quicker pace than one might expect, and changes somewhat randomly from whitewater flows to beautiful deep pools. The quick pace and depth of Dodd’s Creek has also created several small waterfalls throughout the hike, and it would be easy to think some of these are the actual Ravens Cliff Falls.

The Falls, however, are unmistakable once reached.  At its base, the lowest cascade, a 20 foot falls seems to mark the end of the trail.

At this point, however, the trail becomes moderately difficult, and a little dangerous. An approximately 40 foot scramble up the hillside to the right will bring hikers to a closer view of the 60’ cascade that is the focal point of Ravens Cliff Falls.

These falls are somewhat unique in that they don’t fall down the face of a cliff in the ways hikers might expect. Instead, Ravens Cliff Falls parts two cliffs creating its own path down into Dodd’s Creek.

From the top of the trail, views of the Ravens Cliff Wilderness Valley can also be seen, especially in the fall and winter months.

NOTE:.

This hike is a very popular hike close to Helen, GA and Cleveland, Georgia and can get a little crowded on nice Spring and fall weekends.

Directions: From Downtown Helen:

1. Travel West on Hwy. 17 for 1.3 miles.

2 Turn Left onto GA-75 North for 2.3 miles

3 Make a slight right onto GA-348/Richard B. Russell Scenice Highway and go 2.7miles.

Ravens Cliff Wilderness and Falls is not clearly marked on road side signage until the parking lot is reached on the left.

In a very impressive feat, three kayakers dropped off the 90′ tall waterfall in Gadsen, Alabama known as Noccalula Falls.

These guys are apparently the first to ever drop from these falls by kayak.

Distance: 1.25 miles one way

Difficulty: Easy

Located in the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge down Fort Morgan Road, the Big Pine Beach Trail is a two mile trail that brings hikers through pine forests, between Big Lagoon and Gator Lake, and to come out along the beach in the Gulf of Mexico.

The hike begins along a gated service road, and its first mile walks through a fledgling pine forest. The sandy dirt road is almost completely flat, and makes for an easy hike. Be sure to pick up the free trail guide at the trailhead as numbered signs correspond with the guides information about the numerous types of flora located in the forest.

Ignore the Centennial Trail sign, and at approximately one mile, a large wooden observation tower overlooking Gator Lake and parts of Big Lagoon can be climbed.

On the day we visited, we saw thousands of schools of minnows in the brown waters by the platform, as well as several large herons.

Crossing over the bridge, hikers can walk across a thin strip of land that divides Gator Lake from Big Lagoon.  Just past this strip of land, hikers can continue along the path way for approximately one mile along the dunes and will eventually reach the beaches on the Gulf of Mexico.

Alternatively, a sign indicates a second trail that forks to the right known as Gator Lake Trail. The actual trailhead can’t be seen, as it appears to be just a sandy dune, but follow the directions on the sign between the open sections of shrub and trees on the dune, and the trail will quickly become clear again.

This mile long section of trail walks along the southern side of Gator Lake before emptying out onto Mobile Street and a second parking area.  Hikers can loop back to Big Pine trailhead by walking up Mobile street, or simply turn around and walk back the way they came.

Directions:

From Highway 59 traveling South toward the beaches of Gulf Shores:

1. Turn right onto Fort Morgan Road, and travel roughly 8.9 miles.

2. Turn left into Pine Beach Trail Parking for this trailhead.

To hike just Gator Lake, turn left onto Mobile Street (just past Pine Beach trailhead) and parking will be a couple of miles down on the left.