HIGHLIGHTS:
The Chattahoochee National Forest is one of two National
Forests in the State of Georgia, and it takes its name from the
Chattahoochee River whose headwaters begin in the North Georgia mountains. The
River and the area were given the name by the English settlers who
heard it from the Indians that once
lived here. The Chattahoochee
was
created
when the Forest Service purchased 31,000 acres in Fannin, Gilmer, Lumpkin
and Union Counties from the Gennett family in 1911 for $7.00 per acre.
In the beginning, the Chattahoochee was part of
the Nantahala and Cherokee National Forests in North Carolina and Tennessee,
but eventually the Forest Service made additional land purchases and expanded
the Chattahoochee to its current size of nearly 750,000 acres.
The Blood Mountain Wilderness area received its designation in 1991,
and it is a sub-section of the Chattahoochee National Forest. The
wilderness area is bordered to the northwest by
Georgia Highway 60 and the Blue
Ridge mountain range, and to the northeast
by Georgia Highway 19/129 and Neels Gap. Major trails in this area include
the Appalachian Trail, Freeman Trail, the
Dockery Lake/Miller Gap Trail, the Coosa Backcountry Trail, the Duncan Ridge
Trail, The Bare Hair Trail, and the Slaughter Creek Trail.
The hike to Preaching Rock at 3,737 feet (or Big Cedar
Mountain as it is sometimes called) is a short and moderate hike along the
Appalachian Trail with an ascent that starts gradually from GA 60, then rises
steeply to Preaching Rock. We day and overnight hiked this section and explored the ridgeline
to stretch this hike to about three miles - but it can be done in less mileage
without the side hikes. There are excellent from Preaching Rock to the southeast.
