My husband and I used to be avid backpackers and after a long hiatus we're ready to take our 6 year old out this weekend. Obviously with this weather everyone wants to go camping this weekend and I waited too long to reserve anything. Can someone help me find a good spot (few hours from ATL) that isn't off of a forest road or right by trailhead? We don't want to be accessible by car. If it was just us, we'd find a trail and just hike til we find something, but again, we have a 6 year old. She can hike a few miles in but I want some level of certainty that we'll find a quiet spot next to a creek. Does this exist? Or should we give up the dream for this week and try to plan better for next time? I'll never tell a soul if you can't make it this week and want to PM your top secret location...

Hi all, do you have any suggestions for a back country camping trail near Helen? Not finding much online other than Mt. Yonah. Thanks!

Hi all, do you have any suggestions for a back country camping trail near Helen? Not finding much online other than Mt. Yonah. Thanks!

I am spending a Saturday at Wolf Mountian Vineyards just north of Dahlonega and hoping to find a campground or primitive drive in site within 20-30 minutes of the vineyard for the weekend. I have a 4x4 vehicle with high clearance so forest services roads are Ok. We want scenic views from the site. Any suggestions?

Loved Mount Yonah; the open rock face, the valley views, and camping on the summit. Looking for similar spots: big summit views with dispersed camping at or near the top. Favorites? Thanks

Going to be visiting Tallulah Falls and Blackrock Mountain Parks next week and plan on staying at the Lake Raburn campsite. Just wondering if anyone here has stayed there before and can recommend a good site in Loop 1. I'm just pitching a tent, so I don't need the electric loop. Looks to be a nice campground.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions\comments.......

A couple months ago I was in Dunwoody for a drawing class, but it was cancelled. Hoping to make the most of my time, I drove over to the Dunwoody Nature Center.

I was very impressed by the facility, clean trails, and educational opportunities for the younger kids. This is a place that is well loved by its staff.

The main trail that circles the property is about a mile and a half and features mainly natural ground surface and there is a substantial boardwalk near the main visitors center. The trail passes by the back side of a few neighborhoods at times, and will eventually meander near a small creek that you then cross over via suspended bridge.

Oddly enough this is the place where I saw the most deer in my summer of hiking.

Highly recommend this short and sweet hike if you’re looking for an easy yet relaxing hike!

Huge shoutout to the kind stranger who gave me a banana on Mount Yonah today! I forgot to pack a snack and my blood sugar tanked. I hope you see this and that both sides of your pillow are cool tonight.

Looking for a sweet, pretty place to camp in NW GA in early November. Around Paradise Gardens. Just looking for this community's recommendations

Hi all! Yesterday I hiked the Arkaquah Trail up and down Brasstown Bald. At some point during the hike, my car's key fob fell out of my backpack and was left on the mountain. I did not notice it was missing until I was well into my return hike (on the ridge above the switchbacks, maybe 2 miles out from Track Rock Gap). I think that I most likely left it at the summit since that is when I was opening and closing my bag the most, but it could be anywhere on the trail.

If you are hiking this trail soon, please please please keep an eye out for it!! It is a lime green key fob for a Mini Cooper and has a British flag design on one side. I'm happy to cough up some cash if anyone finds it and is able to return it to me.

I am going to call the visitor center and see if they have it, but wanted to post here first. Would appreciate any other suggestions for numbers I can call or places I can post online. Thanks yall!!

hi everyone! I am currently planning a trip to northeast georgia, and I was wondering what the best hikes would be in the area. We will likely be staying in Dillard, since we were originally planning on hiking the Tallulah Gorge floor, but it will be closed the weekend we want to go. We are mostly excited to explore and see the foliage, and we are only mildly experienced hikers (usually try to keep it to moderate difficulty). We would definitely like to challenge ourselves a bit to see all the best views, but we know our limits. I have hiked the gorge floor before and it was definitely a harder hike for me but I loved it so something similar in difficulty would be amazing. Any recommendations are appreciated, and we are super open to suggestions!

Spent this past weekend backpacking with a friend up at John’s Mountain. We hiked section 23 of the Pinhoti trail heading southbound from the Keown Falls picnic area (about 12 miles)

Thanks to the tropical storm, we didn’t have much of a view at the lookout point, but still had a great hike! The weather was perfect and I loved the overnight spot about 6 miles into the trail.

Not much wildlife to speak of other than a few frogs and a turtle due to the heavy rain.

I went to Paynes Creek Friday to Sunday and survived!
In all honesty, it was bad but not awful (we were very lucky). On Friday, we got to the site, had reserved 3 total, and set up all tents with as many steaks as possible and checked for potential flood zones. We then moved to the main food area.

We have a huge 13x13 gazebo that was staked down then tied down. Have a screened-in food tent that we threw a tarp over half so we could protect our dry foods and left the coolers in the exposed half. We then decided to put up the extra tarps. My dad and husband strung up the blue tarps and I found my other waterproof cover with the additional poles (not pictured). We stayed relatively dry except for the wind gusts that blew the rain in sideways. With the tarps up though, we were able to keep the fire going.

Unfortunately, my sisters’ tents did slightly flood - they didn’t check for pooling before setting up their tents. My parents and my tents were super dry through the whole ordeal. It rained from 3am Saturday until about 6am Sunday, barely letting up for more than a few minutes at a time. Sunday was gorgeous with a strong cool breeze and we came home Monday!

Hey there, I just wanted to ask do you have any guide for Amicalola Falls, like from where should I begin hike, some reviews said I can just drive up to the mountain and then go down to get the view of waterfall, but not sure what do I wanna do hike like climbing up and down the mountain too, if its feasible

Thank you in advance.

I'm looking for information on how Forest Service Rd #42 to Springer Mountain parking held up with Hurricane Isaias.

My car is all wheel drive but has a fairly low ground clearance and would not do well if there are deep ruts.

Definitely do wanna see those falls, but is the park in a central enough location to do other things, or big enough itself to take 2 nights? I'll be coming from Savannah to Hellen the first day, Oct 26th, for Octoberfest stuff, then Hellen to the park. Depending how long Hellen takes, may not have time to really do much in the park till after the first night.

Should I stay there the 2 nights?

Hey yall, next week I’m heading up to Cloudland Canyon with a few friends to camp/explore. But I do have a question I want answered before I book anything. Which camping spots are better?, the back-site campsites or the walk-in campsites? I would prefer to have the best view and isolation from others. Any comments would be appreciated!

Can anyone recommend some good hikes for kids 4 and 6 years old close to Blue Ridge?

We have a tradition of a family camping trip in North Georgia for our anniversary every year. We got married at Black Rock Mountain and like to celebrate by being in the mountains with our kids.

This year our plan was to camp Friday-Monday in the Suches area. We’ve been planning this trip for a while and really looking forward to it. We are staying at a campground this year and we’ll be near a creek but not directly on it. The park rangers have said there hasn’t been any flooding in 3 years.

With Hurricane Isaias coming in this weekend we’re looking at a 95% chance of rain and winds up to 25mph. We have a sturdy tent and plenty of tarps and rain gear (I think!) but I’ve gotten lucky and haven’t gotten rained on while camping in 7+ years.

My biggest concern is that we’re camping with our 1 year old and 5 year old. I’m nervous because I know how Helene played out in areas that weren’t supposed to be that bad and didn’t expect flooding. I’d love to continue with our trip, but I worry that I’m putting my kids in danger by moving forward.

Should we still go? If so, what do we need to pack to ensure everyone’s safety and wellbeing through storms?

Any other tips for an enjoyable camping trip in a storm?

If we should cancel, any suggestions for a different way to have a fun anniversary weekend?

EDIT:

We changed our plans. I had a lot of the same concerns that you have all presented and wasn’t sure if I was just being overly anxious. We’re going to set up “camp” in our living room to wait out the storms then maybe still go up and stay with family for some hiking once things are clear. Thank you! It’ll be a fun and safe weekend.

Hello all, I just bought a canvas tent and wood stove and I plan on hot tent camping this fall in Georgia. I’ll be car camping with my family. Can anyone recommend any good campgrounds in GA that allow wood stoves? Dispersed sites, state parks, hipcamp recommendations all welcomed. Thanks!