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.
This short hike in the
Chattahoochee National Forest
circles Dockery Lake for 0.6 miles as
it loops over the damn, around a group camping area, and returns to the
campground which has eleven campsites. There are numerous spots along
the trail to cast into the lake which is stocked with trout and loaded
with brim (aka. blue gill).
