Cayden Williams | The Best Hikes Within Two Hours of Atlanta

Cayden Williams Roswell

North Georgia is closer to serious hiking than most metro Atlanta residents realize. Within two hours of the city limits, you can be on the Appalachian Trail, on top of the highest peak in the state, or in a waterfall canyon that looks like it belongs in a different country. Cayden Williams of Roswell has hiked most of them. He has favorites.

He will tell you the popular trails are popular for a reason. He will also tell you the popular trails are not where the best hiking is.

Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia

The summit of Brasstown Bald sits at 4,784 feet. From the top you can see four states on a clear day. The trail to the summit from the parking lot is short, paved, and steep. There is a shuttle if you do not want to walk it.

Brasstown Bald gets crowded in October when the leaves change. If you go on a weekend during peak fall color, expect to wait in traffic to even get to the parking lot.

Go on a Tuesday in September instead. The view is the same. The crowds are gone.

Blood Mountain, the iconic Appalachian Trail summit

Blood Mountain is the highest point on the Georgia section of the Appalachian Trail. The hike from Neel Gap to the summit is just over two miles each way and gains around 1,400 feet of elevation. The summit has a stone shelter at the top that thru-hikers have been using for decades.

The view from the summit is what people make the drive for. Mountains rolling out in every direction. The scale of the southern Appalachians becomes obvious in a way it never does from a car.

This is a moderate hike that feels harder than the numbers suggest. Wear real boots.

Tallulah Gorge, the canyon that surprises people

Tallulah Gorge is a thousand-foot deep canyon cut by the Tallulah River. The state park has overlook trails along both rims and a more challenging trail that descends into the gorge floor. The descent requires a permit because the trail is steep enough to be dangerous.

The waterfalls inside the gorge are some of the best in the southeast. There are six named falls. The trail crosses a suspension bridge that hangs eighty feet above the river.

This is the hike to bring out-of-town visitors on. They will not believe Georgia has anything like this until they see it.

Amicalola Falls, the prelude to the Appalachian Trail

Amicalola Falls is the tallest cascade east of the Mississippi at 729 feet. The state park has a series of trails that range from easy paved walks to a serious staircase climb of over six hundred steps to the top of the falls.

The longer hike from Amicalola continues to Springer Mountain, the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. The full approach is about eight miles each way. People doing it as a day hike turn around at the summit and come back. People starting a thru-hike keep going for another 2,200 miles.

Raven Cliff Falls, the underrated walk

Raven Cliff Falls is in the Chattahoochee National Forest near Helen. The trail is around five miles round trip and follows a creek up to a waterfall that splits a granite cliff. The hike is moderate and the trail is well-maintained.

This is the hike for a Saturday when you want to be in the woods without the crowds of Brasstown or Tallulah. The parking lot fills up but never to the level of the famous trails.

Williams will tell you Raven Cliff is one of the most rewarding hikes per mile in the state.

The hike most people skip

The Coosa Backcountry Trail is a thirteen-mile loop through Vogel State Park. It is one of the harder hikes in North Georgia and most people never do it because of the distance. The reward is a real backcountry experience without driving to a national park.

Williams has done it. The Coosa is the kind of hike where you finish tired in a way that you remember for weeks. Most weekend hikes do not deliver that.

The honest advice

Pick a hike that matches your fitness and the weather. North Georgia in summer is hot and humid. North Georgia in winter can be icy. Spring and fall are the prime seasons for a reason.

Get to the trailhead early. The good parking lots fill up by 9 a.m. on weekends in good weather. Cayden Williams of Roswell has been doing this long enough to know that the difference between a great hike and a frustrating one is often just an hour earlier alarm.

Set the alarm. Get up. Drive north. The mountains are closer than you think.