Take on the Great Outdoors: Hit the Trails in Rabun County!

Tallulah Gorge Bridge © Peter McIntosh

Take on the Great Outdoors: Hit the Trails in Rabun County!

If you love the great outdoors and the adventures to be found along the trails, you’ll love Rabun County, rich with hiking opportunities for hikers of all ages, abilities, and interests. Whether you prefer an easy hike to a spectacular waterfall, a challenging hike to an amazing mountain-top view, or anything in between, we have a trail to suit your heart’s desire.

Our most notable trail is undoubtedly the Appalachian Trail. A.T. founder Benton MacKaye envisioned the Appalachian Trail as providing recreation, healing, and employment opportunities. “The project is one for a series of recreational communities throughout the Appalachian chain… to be connected by a walking trail,” he said of his vision.

The Trail was officially completed in 1937 and became part of the National Park System. Today, the A.T. extends more than 2,198 miles from Maine to Georgia within a protected 250,000-acre greenway. Over three million people hike the Appalachian Trail each year.

Hikers come from across the globe and are drawn to the A.T. for a variety of reasons, such as reconnecting with nature, escaping the stress of city life, and conquering the challenges of thru-hiking. Rabun County is a designated Appalachian Trail Community and home to the northernmost section of the A.T. in Georgia, offering stunning mountain-top views and sights of Lakes Burton, Seed, and Rabun nestled between the rolling mountains near the horizon.

Another popular trail is the historic Bartram Trail. The trail is named after the 18th-century American naturalist William Bartram, who traveled to southeastern colonial America between the years of 1773 and 1777, documenting and illustrating species of plants and animals previously unknown to Western civilization.

The most established section of the Bartram Trail winds about 115 miles from the North Georgia mountains into North Carolina and was designated as a National Recreation Trail by the National Trails System Act of 1968. In Rabun County, the Bartram trail covers 36.5 miles and is well-marked with historical markers. It follows the mountain ridge line to its highest point in Georgia, the summit of Rabun Bald at 4,969 feet, where you can see for countless miles in all directions.

From there, it passes a number of waterfalls before dropping to its lowest elevation along a stretch of the Chattooga River. The pristine beauty of this National Wild and Scenic River will fill your heart with the same sights and sounds that have been alive in these woods for centuries.

Rabun County has countless other trails, especially at our three state parks. Black Rock Mountain, Tallulah Gorge, and Moccasin Creek State Parks all have a variety of trail and hiking experiences for outdoor enthusiasts of all levels. Park trails have many features, including a suspension bridge that swings 80 feet over a thundering river. They'll take you down into the gorge and along the Tallulah River, where you can slide down a waterfall, or up to a mountaintop overlook offering 80-mile views into Tennessee and the Carolinas. Other trails will take you to countless other “on-” or “off-the-beaten-path” waterfalls, including Minnehaha Falls, Mud Creek Falls, Hemlock Falls, and Angel and Panther Falls.

Throughout Rabun County, the rugged beauty of the Southern Appalachian Mountains is stunning when experienced from the vantage point of a beautiful wilderness trail. Hike them all! You’ll be left in awe of the immeasurable beauty of this amazing North Georgia county, located just two hours north of Atlanta. From rushing waterfalls at the bottom of a gorge to inspiring mountain-top views, Rabun County will become one of your favorite destinations for hiking and outdoor adventures of all kinds.

Visit ExploreRabun.com to plan your trip today!