COHUTTA WILDERNESS
JACKS RIVER
|
 |
| LOCATION:
Northwest Georgia |
| HIKE
STARTS: Dally Gap (USFS 22) |
| HIKE ENDS:
Dally Gap (USFS 22) |
| TOTAL
DISTANCE: 4.6 Miles |
| HIKE TYPE:
In and Out, Backtrack Hike |
| HIKE
DIFFICULTY: Easy to Moderate |
| TRAILS
USED: Jacks River Trail |
| TRAIL
TRAFFIC: Moderate |
| TRIP TYPE:
Day or Overnight Hike |
| MANAGEMENT:
Chattahoochee NF |
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 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 Cohutta Wilderness at
36,977 acres is the largest National Forest Wilderness
in the southeast and combined with the Big Frog
Wilderness in Tennessee the area is some of the most pristine
and isolated in the South. The Cohutta was owned, railroaded, and
intensively logged by private timber companies up until the 1920’s
when the US Government bought the land and began
restoring it to protect the forest and
watersheds. In 1975, Congress passed legislation
adding the Cohutta Wilderness to the National Wilderness Preservation System.
This is an easy backtrack hike from Dally Gap in the Cohutta
to the Jacks River. It can be done as either a day or overnight hike.
