Backpacking
Backpacking opportunities abound near Chattanooga. The Cumberland Trail State Scenic Trail begins on Signal Mountain, only 20 minutes from downtown, allowing backpackers to make multi-day trips through the rugged gorges of the Cumberland Plateau. While state parks provide short, close to home options for beginner backpackers, our national parks provide unlimited opportunities to wander the woods for days. From downtown Chattanooga, the long distance hiker can access the entire Eastern U.S. trail system. The Great Eastern Trail runs through the city center, providing a vital connection to the Appalachian Trail north, in Virginia, and the Pinhoti Trail, south in Georgia.
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Benton MacKaye Trail
The Benton MacKaye Trail stretches nearly 300 miles from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Davenport Gap in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The lower 200 miles (closest to Chattanooga) follow the western crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
The trail is named for Benton MacKaye, the forester, conservationist, and co-founder of the Wilderness Society who originally envisioned this route for the Appalachian Trail (AT). Passing through GA, TN, and NC, it forms a giant figure-8 loop with the AT, a total distance of over 500 miles.
Although there are many access points along the 290 miles of trail, the most convenient access point from Chattanooga is at Thunder Rock Campground, adjacent to TVA Powerhouse No. 3 (hydroelectric) on US HWY 64, a half-hour east of Cleveland, TN or a mile west of the Ocoee Whitewater Center.
Cherokee National Forest Map of Thunder Rock CampgroundDirections
Difficulty
Backpacking
Hiking
Running
Hours and Cost
Open Daily: 24/7
Cost: Free
Pet Friendly
Yes, on leash
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Cherokee National Forest
The Ocoee/Tellico district of the Cherokee National Forest is located in Polk and Monroe Counties, east and northeast of Chattanooga in the Appalachian Mountains. Hiking, biking, paddling, running, camping, horseback riding, and hunting are all popular activities in the area.
Biking
The Tanasi trail system provides the intermediate to expert level mountain biker over 20 miles of single track trail to explore on two wheels near the Ocoee Whitewater Center. There's an additional 20 miles of trail at the Chilhowee Recreation area for both hikers and bikers to explore. Note, there is a $3 day-use parking fee at both areas.
Camping
Overnight accommodations are provided at more than 30 developed campgrounds in the Cherokee National Forest. Visitors can stay at developed campgrounds with large, level campsites, tables, fire rings, electricity, and bathhouses or primitive campgrounds with minimal site amenities. Most campgrounds are on a first come, first served basis. However, reservation services are now available for several popular campgrounds in the Cherokee National Forest including Parksville Lake Campground, Indian Boundary, and Chilhowee Recreation Area, along with others. Reservations can be made at www.recreation.gov or by calling (877) 444-6777.
Hiking
Over 600 miles of non-motorized trails traverse Cherokee National Forest including nearly 150 miles the Appalachian National Scenic Trail (A.T.) Take a day hike or hike several days on the national forest trails system.
Horseback Riding
The Little Citco Horse Trail system offers more than 15 miles of backcountry trails in the Citico Creek Wilderness section of the Cherokee National Forest. The Trailhead is located at the Young Branch Campground, near Vonore, Tennessee, about 2 hours northeast of Chattanooga. The campground accommodates up to 25 horses and 35 people in 7 campsites. Sites can be reserved.
Hunting
Covering a combined 298,456 acres, the South Cherokee Wildlife Management Area (WMA) Region III is open for hunting small and large game, including wild hog, black bear, whitetail deer, turkey, and grouse. All hunting areas are managed in cooperation with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and all hunters are subject to TWRA rules and regulations.
Paddling
Cherokee National Forest is home to both the Hiwassee and Ocoee rivers. Each has diverse paddling options like whitewater rafting, kayaking, and playboating on moderate to difficult rapids as well as flatwater sections and lakes suitable for calm kayaking, canoeing, tubing, and paddle boarding.
Difficulty
Hiking
Running
Biking
Paddling
Hours and Cost
Open Daily
Cost: Free, unless posted otherwise. Some areas require a $3 day-use fee. Camping fees vary based on location and length of stay.
Pet Friendly
Yes, on a leash
Contact
Cherokee National Forest—Tellico Ranger District 250 Ranger Station Rd.
Tellico Plains, TN 37385
423-253-8400
Cherokee National Forest—Ocoee Ranger District 3171 Highway 64
Benton, TN 37307
423-338-3300
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Cloudland Canyon
Cloudland Canyon is a 3,488 acre Georgia State Park located near Trenton, GA on Lookout Mountain, just 45 minutes southwest of Chattanooga. The park features some of the most spectacular scenery on the Cumberland Plateau and the rugged geology of the trail system includes multiple waterfalls, 1000 ft sandstone cliffs, and multiple caves to explore. The park boasts over 64 miles of hiking/running trails, along with 30 miles of mountain biking trails at the 5 Points Recreation Area that can be accessed via the Cloudland Canyon Connector Trail (CCT).
This Georgia State Park is a great weekend destination for outdoor enthusiasts of all ages and skill levels including day hikers, backpackers, horseback riders, cavers, mountain bikers, disc golfers, and campers. The park offers every type of overnight camping experience possible! Choose from fully-equipped and comfortable Cottages, quirky Yurts to several different types of Tent, Trailer & RV Campsites including Walk-In Campsites and Backcountry Campsites.
The park’s 18-hole disc golf course features moderately hilly, open and wooded fairways with concrete tee pads and DISCatcher holes. The intermediate level fairways range from 192 to 347 feet long. The park also includes wild caves for touring during select months of the year, a fishing pond, 16 miles of horseback riding trails, picnic grounds, group shelters, a playground and numerous interpretive programs.
Directions
Difficulty
Hiking
Running
Biking
Backpacking
Caving
Guides
Hours and Cost
Park Daily, 7 a.m.–10 p.m.
Office Weekdays, 8 a.m.–5 p.m.
Interpretive Center Saturday–Sunday 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Cost: $5 day use/parking fee Camping, cave tours, disc golf costs vary Annual passes available
Pet Friendly
Yes, on leash
Contact
Cloudland Canyon State Park 122 Cloudland Canyon Park Road Rising Fawn, GA 30738 Park 706-657-4050 Reservations 800-864-7275
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Cumberland Trail
Justin P. Wilson Cumberland Trail State Park is a Tennessee State Park and scenic hiking trail. When complete, it will run the length of the Cumberland Plateau from Chattanooga to the Kentucky-Virginia-Tennessee border. As of November 2016, over 210 miles of the trail are open for hiking. These miles are divided into 14 different segments. Between these segments, land acquisition for the proposed trail corridor is an ongoing process, so gaps in the proposed trail route do exist. There are two long sections located within half an hour’s drive of downtown Chattanooga.
The Tennessee River Gorge segment begins at the Signal Point unit of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park in the town of Signal Mountain, 15 minutes northwest of downtown Chattanooga. The segment extends 24 miles across the Suck Creek Gorge and into Prentice Cooper State Forest. The Three Gorges segment – Soddy, Possum, and Rock Creeks – are some of the most beautiful sections of hiking trail in the entire Southeast. The rugged, rock-strewn trail rolls over 40 contiguous miles by boulder fields, rhododendron thickets, and dramatic overlooks.
Difficulty
Hiking
Running
Backpacking
Hours and Cost
Open Daily: Sunrise to Sunset
Cost: Free
Pet Friendly
Yes, on leash
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Fall Creek Falls
Fall Creek Falls State Park, near Pikeville, is Tennessee's largest and most visited state park. It offers 26,000 acres of outdoor recreation on the eastern edge of the Cumberland Plateau. Fall Creek Falls is the tallest waterfall in Tennessee at 256ft and is one of several spectacular waterfalls located throughout the park.
The park contains over 56-miles of hiking and mountain bike trails, a lodge, RV and primitive camping, a challenge canopy course, swimming pool, playground, along with specialized programs and events throughout the year. Visitors can rent canoes and kayaks, fish on the lake, challenge themselves on a high ropes course, or play golf on an award-winning 6,669-yard course.
The park has 222 campsites in five different areas. All sites have tables, grills, water, and electricity and are served by six bathhouses. 92 sites have sewer connections, and some can accommodate an RV up to 65 ft in length. In addition to the 222 campsites, there are 16 primitive sites, nine are walk-in the other seven are park-on. Most campgrounds are ADA accessible. There are 16 backcountry campsites located in four different areas along the overnight backpacking trails. Reservations are required for all lodge and camping facilities.
Cane Creek Overnight Backpacking Trails
Lower Loop: 12 miles of medium difficulty trail, located in the State Park. The trail descends and climbs scenic Cane Creek Gorge and passes several overlooks and waterfalls including Fall Creek Falls.
Upper Loop: 13 miles of easy rated trail, located in the State Park. The trail follows the plateau of Fall Creek. A campsite is located on an isolated upper section of Cane Creek.Directions
Difficulty
Hiking
Running
Biking
Paddling
Backpacking
Guides
Hours and Cost
Open Daily
Cost: Day use is free. Camping cost is based on campsite amenities and length of stay.
Pet Friendly
Yes, on leash
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Fort Mountain State Park
Located near the Cohutta Wilderness in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest, Fort Mountain State Park is a 3,712-acre mountain getaway in North Georgia.
Hikers, mountain bikers and horseback riders will find some of the most beautiful trails in Georgia, winding through hardwood forest and blueberry thickets, crossing streams and circling a 17-acre lake. Hikers can explore a stone fire tower built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and an ancient rock wall that stands on the highest point of the mountain.
During summer, visitors can cool off by swimming at the lakeside beach or renting a paddle craft to play on the lake. The Park's stables offer guided horseback rides and stall rental throughout the year. Park guests may stay overnight in fully equipped cottages, at the campground which has 80 tent, trailer or RV campsites with hookups and bathhouse facilities, walk-in sites, a group shelter or pioneer campsites or at one of the 4 backcountry campsites.Directions
Difficulty
Hiking
Running
Biking
Paddling
Guides
Hours and Cost
Open Daily: Sunrise to Sunset
Cost: $5 day use parking. Camping varies based on site amenities and length of stay.
Pet Friendly
Yes, on a leash
Contact
Fort Mountain State Park 181 Fort Mountain Park Rd. Chatsworth, GA 30705 706-422-1932
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Foster Falls
Enjoy one of the most scenic and wild areas in Tennessee with a visit to the Foster Falls Small Wild Area. Located near Tracy City, 45 minutes from Chattanooga, this recreation area serves as a home base for exploring the south end of the Cumberland Plateau. An easy hike will take you to the top of Foster Falls. A short, but steep downhill hike takes you over a suspension bridge for a spectacular view of the 60-foot waterfall plunging into a deep pool. Mountain laurel, azaleas, and hemlocks add to the beauty of this area.
Foster Falls is known in the climbers' world as one of the premier climbing destinations in the Southeast. Foster Falls cliff offers difficult, but scenic sport climbs and the south facing cliff provides climbers with plenty of warm sunshine most of the day. Climbers can expect highly technical routes on steep, compact rock, with strenuous wall and roof climbs averaging 60 feet in height. Most climbs are in the 5.10+ range. The cliff line begins at Foster Falls, and runs downstream for nearly two miles, following the curving contour of Little Gizzard Creek.Directions
Difficulty
Climbing
Hiking
Running
Backpacking
Hours and Cost
Open Daily: Sunrise to Sunset
Cost: Free
Pet Friendly
Yes, on a leash
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Great Eastern Trail
The Great Eastern Trail is a project of the Great Eastern Trail Association, working with the American Hiking Society and local trail partners, to create America’s newest long-distance hiking trail extending from Alabama to New York! Still under development, the Great Eastern Trail (GET) runs through Chattanooga using parts of the Cumberland Trail, North Chickamauga Creek Greenway, Tennessee Riverpark, and Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park’s Lookout Mountain trail system.
When complete, the GET will connect the Florida National Scenic Trail to the North Country National Scenic Trail in New York State, as well as making connections to the Benton MacKaye, Pinhoti and Appalachian Trails. Currently, long-distance hikers can access nearby backcountry sections of the GET from downtown Chattanooga using temporary routes on city rights of way and greenways.
Chattanooga was designated a GET Trail Town in 2013.
Directions
Difficulty
Backpacking
Hiking
Running
Hours and Cost
Open Daily: 24/7
Cost: Free
Pet Friendly
Yes, on leash
Contact
Great Eastern Trail Association 118 Park St. S.E. Vienna, VA 22180
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Pinhoti Trail
The Pinhoti Trail (Pin-hoe-tee) is a 335-mile backcountry trail that runs northeast from the Talladega National Forest in Alabama to Springer Mountain in Georgia, where it joins the Benton MacKaye and Appalachian Trails. With 164 miles of trail contained in Georgia and the other 171 miles in Alabama, the Pinhoti Trail is maintained by trail clubs and associations in both states. The closest trailhead to Chattanooga is in Fort Mountain State Park, near Dalton, GA. Through hikers will find designated campsites and shelters. Day hikers can access multiple loops through lush native forests and rocky southern terrain. The Pinhoti Trail in Northwest Georgia is a mountain biker's paradise offering hours and days of two-wheeled trail riding. Mulberry Gap, a Mountain Bike Getaway, offers a ride in/out options with cabins, tent camping, hot showers, home-cooked meals, and shuttles. Other sections of the long-distance trail in Georgia are designated for horseback riding. There is no horseback riding allowed on the trail in Alabama.
More than 25 miles of horse trails offer loop rides varying from 3 to 16 miles. Riders must bring their own horses and register at the Fort Mountain Park stables, or visitors can take guided trail rides. The trail contains several ecosystems and includes canopied hardwood forests, endangered eastern hemlock, brooks, lakes, rocky trails, country roads and segments of highways. The north terminus is approximately 70 miles west of Springer Mountain, the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, near the Benton MacKaye Trail. The trail's southern terminus is on Flagg Mountain, near Weogufka, AL.Difficulty
Hiking
Running
Biking
Hours and Cost
Open 24/7
Cost: Free
Pet Friendly
Yes, on leash
Contact
Talladega National Forest 45 Highway 281 Heflin, AL 36264 (256) 463-2272
Fort Mountain State Park 181 Fort Mountain Park Road Chatsworth, GA 30705 Park 706-422-1932 Reservations 800-864-7275
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Prentice Cooper
Only 15 minutes from downtown Chattanooga, Prentice Cooper State Forest and Wildlife Management Area overlooks the Tennessee River Gorge on a rugged outcrop of the Cumberland Plateau.
The section of Prentice Cooper west of Suck Creek holds approximately 100 miles of forest service roads and trails, open to equestrians, OHV’s, hikers, runners and mountain bikers.
The terrain varies, from rolling hills on top of the plateau to steep grades along the side of the ridge. Trail and road surfaces are a mix of dirt, gravel, or rocks and depending on the time of year, can include multiple stream crossings.
Camping is permitted at two designated campsites: Davis Pond and Hunter's Check Station. Campsites are primitive with pit toilets and campfire rings only. Camping is first come, first serve.
Prentice Cooper is closed to all visitors except hunters on select dates in April for managed turkey hunts. Hunting licenses are available through Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
Directions
Difficulty
Hiking
Running
Biking
Guides
Hours and Cost
Open Daily: Sunrise to Sunset
Cost: Free
Pet Friendly
Yes, on a leash
Backpacking in Chattanooga
Backpacking is an adventure that blends hiking with backcountry camping, where you must carry all life’s essentials in a pack on your back. It provides the opportunity to go beyond the traditional campground and enjoy a more immersive outdoor experience.
First backpacking trip? Follow these steps:
- Choose an easy destination: Short overnight hikes close to home are best.
- Get essential gear and clothing: Having the right and properly fitted gear can make or break your backpacking experience. Borrow gear to save money, but make sure it fits.
- Plan your food: Pack lots of snacks, look for easy to cook options at local groceries or pick up just-add-water from your local outdoor retail store.
- Prepare for your trip: Condition yourself to do the planned hike with a fully loaded pack; get your permits; practice Leave No Trace principles.
- Don’t go alone: Be sure to bring a friend regardless of their backpacking knowledge, because it makes any trip safer and more fun.