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Big Frog Wilderness-Cherokee National Forest

We hiked up from the Low Gap parking lot using Big Frog trail #64 to the summit of Big Frog Mountain, elevation 4,200 ft. Trail #64 was ok going up... nice long slope, but we noticed that as we got further from the lot, the trail became more and more overgrown. The last two miles the wind was increasing and the temperature was dropping. It was dark by the time we set up camp and enjoyed dinner by the light of our headlamps with the city lights from Cleveland visible down below in the valley. The wind continued to pick up throughout the night with 30 to 40 mile-an-hour gusts. I was glad I tied my guy wires to trees when I set up or they might have found me in the valley below by morning. I was hoping to see a bear but I think it was too cold for them to be out.

The next day we descended the Big Frog trail part way down and then took the Benton MacKaye trail to the Rough Creek trail and the remaining mile down the Big Frog trail to Low Gap parking lot.

I enjoyed hiking with my new hiking buddies Mack, Debbie, and Don and I am sure there will be many more hikes in the near future.

Cohutta Mountains

Big Frog Mountain

For fun in the outdoors the Cohutta Wilderness Area cannot be beat. With more than 40,000 acres in Georgia and Tennessee (where its known as Big Frog Wilderness Area), the Cohuttas comprise the largest wilderness east of the Mississippi.

The Cohutta Mountains are part of the oldest known mountains in the world. They run from Fannin County northeast to the Tennessee-North Carolina border, where they are known as the Smoky Mountains, and once bordered a prehistoric ocean. It is from these mountains that the Cohutta Wilderness Area gets its name. As settlers moved west they avoided these mountains because of difficult access and scant level ground for farming. Only a few hardy Scot-Irish settlers scratched out a meager existence in this section of Appalachia.

Around 1900, the Cohuttas became one of the last areas of Georgia to be forested. Logging continued in these areas until World War II when the federal government took over management of the land. In 1976, 36,000 acres were deemed wilderness. Since that time more wilderness area has been added.

Within the Cohutta Mountains are peaks that rise to 4,200 feet and more than a hundred miles of hiking trails. Within the Wilderness Area itself are 13 trails that total more than 87 miles of unusual remote hiking. Other than on the popular Jacks River Trail, it is possible to hike in this area for days during the Spring and Fall and not see other backpackers.

Two rivers (Conasauga and Jacks) flow through the Cohuttas, forming the major valleys on the east and west sides of the Wilderness Areas. In the river valleys the flora is prolific. It is not uncommon to see a wide array of plant life, thickly covering any land that gets available sunlight. As the trails climb the mountains the plants lessen, mostly because the trees block the sun.

Within this forest land, there are approximately 26 trails covering roughly 127 miles. Enjoy!

3 members like this

Comment by Catherine "Cat" Rightsell on November 26, 2011 at 9:17am: Awesome!!!

Comment by John Dilbeck on November 26, 2011 at 10:15am: I remember hiking along the Jacks river with Pop, when I was a young boy.

When he was young, he had walked all over the area and knew it well. Every time he went to Benton to visit his Mom, brother, and other relatives, he'd talk about all the time he'd spent on Big Frog Mountain, and other mountains in the area, in the 1920s and 1930s.

Comment by Paralee Dawson Hayward on November 26, 2011 at 7:57pm: I am enjoying exploring a new area. We want to hike Jacks River this summer since you have to cross the river 42 times if you do the entire trail. Have you hiked that area John

Comment by John Dilbeck on November 27, 2011 at 11:11am: I haven't been there in about 50 years. I was a kid when Pop took me. I remember it as one of the most beautiful river walks I've ever been on.

I'm going to have to get back over there one of these days.

I have a friend who went to the same high school I did and he hikes all around the area. He posted some photos on Facebook from Jacks River. His name is Tony Cook.

I'll see if I can find the photo and link to it. Maybe you could meet him.

Here's his profile: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1461726908

Here's the photo of Tony at Jacks River:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2481736570386&set=a.1952...

Pop and I didn't cross the river, Paralee, we just walked along side it for maybe a mile.

Comment by Paralee Dawson Hayward on November 27, 2011 at 1:53pm: Thanks John. Yes you should go back and visit the area. One way to feel connected to your dad.

Big Frog Wilderness-Cherokee National Forest

Cohutta Mountains

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Big Frog Wilderness-Cherokee National Forest

Cohutta Mountains

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New? Please Read...

Support our locally-owned businesses...

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