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Kennesaw Mtn Burnt Hickory Trail
Overview
Because this trail is near me home, it is worth while, otherwise, I wouldn’t bother.

• Trail Mileage: 4+mi – mine was 5.4mi when done.
• Parking: Parked on Burnt Hickory Rd; it was almost full on a Monday
• I took the 2 Western routes when heading south of Burnt Hickory Rd. On the return/northern trip, I took the single East trail, crossed Burnt hickory rd and continues north to the Pigeon Hill turnoff. I climbed Pigeon Hill heading west and took the western trail back to the parking. 5.4+mi. Moderately difficult, especially Pigeon Hill and the Western routes.

Directions
Kennesaw Mtn Park

Notable Sights

• None really. There are lots of signs marking where something used to be, but nothing is left. Salem Church had a sign – no church, fireplace, benches, nothing. Good sign tho.

Watson Mill Bridge State Park
Overview
This was a long way to go for an ok hike. The day was beautiful, yet location this was just eh for hiking.

• Trail Mileage: multiple from 0.75mi to 2.5+mi. – over 3 hours I hiked 6.5mi
• Parking: multiple paved lots; I doubt they will all fill up.
• I parked just on the north side of the bridge and did these trails:
  • Beaver Creek
  • Old Powerhouse to the Pioneer III camping site
  • Returned on the Nature Trail
  • Then finished on the 2.5mi Hiking and Biking Trail – it has a name, just not on any of the paper I still have.

Directions
Northeast of Athens, GA – take US Hwy 29 to SR-72 east. Then in Comers, turn right on SR-22 heading south about 3 miles. Then turn left at the State Park sign and go 3mi-ish. You’ll know you are there when the 1 lane wooden bridge shows up.

Notable Sights

• Wooden Bridge
• Dam
• Old powerhouse
• None of the trails are really worth mentioning – all are easy.

Red Top Mountain
Overview

1. Homestead Trail Mileage: 5.4 miles total (my pedometer confirmed – 13k steps)
2. Total Time: 2+ hours 1st time; 1:40 for 2nd time
3. Altitude: approx 900ft above sea level
4. Parking: paved – room for 8+ cars; fills up on weekends and some weekdays
5. There are many more trails than just Homestead here. All the others seem shorter, but you could easily put 2+ together to get the hike length you desire. I enjoyed the length of my first hike so much that I came back 2 days later and hiked the same trail again, just in the opposite direction.
   On my first hike of the Homestead trail counter-clockwise loop, I did a run/walk for enough of it to cause my left knee to crackle and feet to hurt. I also didn’t eat enough breakfast to maintain my energy level for the entire 2+ hour effort. By the time I was hiking up the last hill to the parking lot, I had real concerns that my knee wasn’t going to hold out. A little google search at the end and I’m confident there’s nothing wrong, just a little extra fluid in my left knee. I had no pain.
   On my 2nd hike of the Homestead trail, I elected to go the clockwise loop. I found this to be much easier for me and my knee. At the first sign of knee issues, I took some Tylenol. Doing that minimized any further knee issues for rest of the hike. Since I was concerned about making it to the end this day, I elected to chop off a little from the hike and took a cutoff that made the hike about 4.3 miles instead of 5.3 mi.

Directions
I-75 exit 285 and head east (right). The road will take you to the visitor center turn in at the Camping Registration sign. You’ll need a Georgia State Parks parking pass – $3 or $30 annually.

Notable Sights
Nice lake Allatoona views.
There’s a stone chimney off in the woods – you’ll have to look for a small unmarked path to find it. It is about half a mile into the loop if you go counter-clockwise.

Allatoona Pass
Overview

• Trail Mileage: 3.4 miles total (my pedometer confirmed)
• Altitude: ??? ft above sea level
• Parking: paved – room for 8+ cars; fills up on weekends and some weekdays
• The trail is fairly easy if you stay on the main loop. From the parking area, follow the levy towards the woods passed the STOP sign and head to the right. To the right are memorials to each state in the Confederacy, stop if you like or keep heading up the hill.
  There’s a 4-way cross at the top of the hill. To the right is a small loop that has a crows nest. You can hike around it or go in and back out then head back to the 4-way cross.
  Continue straight thru (since you were in the crows nest) and head up a small hill towards the Regimental Headquarters. Going pass the HQ takes you to the view of the Allatoona Pass.
  Head to the right following the pass until you are given a choice of veering right or left. Going to the right takes you to a small loop that returns back here.
  Veering to the left heads down a slope to a wooden and stone bridge onto the old railroad path (no railroad tracks remain). Head to the right on this huge trail and follow it about 1/2 a mile and take in the views of Allatoona Lake. The lake was extremely low when I visited. Along the way, there are a few offshoots with views of the lake.
  When you reach the end, there’s a STOP sign, turn around and come back.
  This road heads directly towards the parking lot. Just passed the bridge you’ve already crossed is a group of steps to the right that leads to the Star Fort. This was a challenging climb for me and I was out of breath well before the top. Sadly, it was another closed loop that required us to retrace our steps back into the pass and head towards the parking lot.

On a Monday in winter when I visited, mine was the only car in the lot when I arrived around 11am, but the lot was full when I left around 12:24p.

Directions
I-75 exit 283 and head east (right). Go over railroad tracks and from there it is exactly 1.0 miles to the parking on the left. No charge.

Notable Sights
None really beyond views of Allatoona Lake. All the sites listed here are simple signs – nothing remains except paths and mounds of dirt providing fortifications. You’ll have to imagine what it was like for the Confederate and Federal soldiers when they were here.

See the 2008 gallery for photos.

Kennesaw Mtn
Overview
*Trail Mileage: 1.1 miles up and back according to the signs (my pedometer confirmed)
*Altitude: ??? ft above sea level at summit
*Parking: paved – room for 30+ cars; fills up on weekends and some weekdays

• The first part of the trail is an up and down only, not a loop. There are 2 ways up. a) You can elect to stay on the paved road to the top which buses and private cars can take, or b) head off into the woods for a more challenging hike. Portions are difficult due to rocks and trees in the path. Portions are very steep and will challenge those with knee problems.

• There is more trail to the other mtn top, which I haven’t hiked recently. You reach it from the top of the first trail by continuing westerly.

Directions
TBD – follow the signs west of I-75 at the Barrett Parkway exit in Cobb County, GA.

Notable Sights
Nothing until the top – then you are treated to a lookout over Smyrna, Atlanta, Cobb, Perimeter and, on clear days, Stone Mountain. You can only see South-Eastern with the other directions obstructed by trees even in winter.

See the 2008 gallery for photos.

Pine Mountain Recreation Area

Overview

• Trail Mileage: 2.34 miles for the loop according to the signs (my pedometer says 3.7 miles)
• Altitude: 1,562 ft above sea level at summit
• Parking: Gravel – room for 6 cars or so.
• I was looking for a 1-2 hour hike for a Saturday when rain wasn’t expected. We’ve had 2 straight days of rain here, so I knew the tails could be slippery. I elected to head to the eastern section of the loop. That is the longer way to the summit of Pine Mtn, but a more gradual climb. The summit path is not part of the loop. You have to walk up to the summit off the "loop" then back down to the loop. It was almost 1,000 steps on this part of the trail – further than I expected. If you just want to get to the summit ASAP, take the western route of the Eastern Loop Trail. Both start and end at the same parking area.

Directions

There are two parking lots, East and West trailheads. The West trail head is right off I-75 and has 4x the parking of the Eastern trailhead.

East Trailhead:
I-75 Exit 290, east on GA 20. Almost an immediate right at the first traffic light after the exit onto Spur 20. Continue approximately 3.2 miles – keep going mostly straight ahead and don’t worry about the "No Exit" / "Dead End" signs. Spur 20 isn’t marked once you are on it. The East Loop Trailhead access and parking area is on the right, just past the turn to Bartow Beach and Gatewood Park, which is on the left. Directions Updated from here

West Trailhead:
I-75 Exit 288, turn right, then right again at the dead end. The parking lot is on the left about 500 ft down and marked with a brown Pine Mountain Recreation Area sign.

Notable Sights
Well, there really isn’t anything until the summit. Summit overlooks parts of Allatoona Lake and Red Top Mtn and I-75. On a sunny day, the views really area nice.

See the 2008 gallery for photos.

Georgia

• http://notatlanta.org/hiking.html
• http://georgiatrails.com/county/Cobb
• http://georgiatrails.com/city/Marietta
• http://www.jdmpics.com/trails/hiking-trails-ga.htm
  
  
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