Get Wet in Georgia's Cohutta Wilderness
It's water, water everywhere in this green forest.
Georgia, located in the southeastern U.S., is comprised of five distinct geographic regions: the Coastal Plain, Piedmont, Blue Ridge, Ridge and Valley, and Appalachian Plateau.
The Coastal Plain lies along Georgia’s coast and is relatively flat, while the Piedmont is hilly and dotted with large rock outcrops and numerous streams and rivers. The Blue Ridge contains the Blue Ridge Mountains — the highest in the Appalachian Highlands — which stretch from northeast Georgia to southern Pennsylvania. Ridge and Valley features long, parallel, often forest-covered sandstone ridges overlooking wide, rolling valleys, while the Appalachian Plateau is mostly flat and sits over nearby valleys.
Georgia is home to Springer Mountain, the southern terminus of the 2,184-mile-long Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply the AT, which extends to Mount Katahdin in Maine.
It's water, water everywhere in this green forest.
With its mixed hardwood forests, the east coast has some of the country's best fall leaves. See them before they're gone on these six hikes.
Summer never ends on this trek through beaches and live oak forests.
The new Yellow River Wildlife Sanctuary could open as soon as February.
The 16-year-old is the second fatality there in two weeks and the sixth waterfall death in Western North Carolina this year.
Atlanta has plenty of nicknames, but the best one is The City in a Forest. Atlanta urban center boasts a higher density of tree cover than almost any other major city in the country—meaning quality trail time is hardly farther than your doorstep.
The countercultural group is holding its annual get-together near Bull Mountain.
The woman fell from the Laurel Falls Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The coyote is the fourth confirmed case of rabies so far this year in the district.
The city council's transportation committee is looking at a proposal for a dockless electric bike program.
A man died in the Pisgah National Forest waterfall last Sunday, but currents have prevented officials from recovering his body.
Lanierland and Matt Community Parks opened brand-new paths this month.
Students will bury the carcass, then reconstruct the skeleton.
A Georgia DNR helicopter spotted the group on Monday.
Apply now for the chance to see the famous natural phenomenon this June.
The advice comes after last year's rabies outbreak in northwest Georgia.
The PATH connects Clairmont campus with Mason Mill Park.
The popularity of the new Fire Mountain Trail System drew Motion Makers Bicycle Shop to Cherokee, NC.
Georgia Wildlife scientists hoped to study a humpback whale found dead off the coast last month, but a pack of sharks had other plans.
Georgia's proposal would earmark a portion of sales tax on outdoor gear to funding trails, parks, and other open spaces.
The carcass looked prehistoric, but biologists say it was probably a decomposing basking shark.
The monthly educational programs feature a lecture and a field trip.
The $25.8 million deal will connect the Eastside and Westside Trails, forming a continuous linear park.
Searchers found the 25-year-old man's car with his keys and backpack still in it.
Learn the stories behind Victoria Bryant and Laura S. Walker State Parks.
Advocates estimate the measure would raise $20 million per year.
Last year the park hosted a record-breaking number of Appalachian Trail hikers.
The 37-year-old was hiking at North Carolina's Upper Catawba Falls for a bachelor party.
The best local trails, as selected by BACKPACKER Local scout Stan Gentry.
The group of migrating North Atlantic Right whales was the largest spotted in years.
The weeklong trip will chart the Yellow and Ocmulgee Rivers.
The raptors are still rare in natural settings after DDT and egg collecting wiped them out on the East Coast.
A bill before state legislators now would create a new funding source to help Georgia pollinators.
Lawmakers voted to advance a bill to change the Skidaway Island waterway to Freedom Creek.
Native landscaping helped earn part of PATH400 the bird-friendly certification.
In Savannah, wintering goldfinches are rare while Baltimore orioles are moving in.
The 500-acre, drive- and walk-through zoo would be about an hour east of Atlanta.
The proposal would set aside $40 million per year for acquiring and maintaining public lands in Georgia.
The 16-year-old also plans to start a nature group and self-publish a guidebook.
The quirky citizen wildlife study heads to New York City next fall.
A proposed state constitutional amendment would establish a conservation fund for Georgia.
The outdoor giant just incorporated an Aptos Company management suite nationwide.
The Atlanta Coyote Project, which studies the wily canine, opposes Georgia's coyote-hunting contest.
Unusually cold waters along the Georgia coast prompted the request to protect state trout populations.
The 2008 abduction and killing of Meredith Emerson still haunts investigators and lawyers.
The justices seemed to be siding with Florida over water use in the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers.
Biologists blame groundwater withdrawal and pollution for the demise of the beaverpond marstonia snail.
These nature getaways will help you with your 2018 #fitnessgoals.
The annual Lake Lanier challenge attracted 41 swimmers.
The "First Saturdays" program will feature monthly activities in partnership with Northside Hospital.
Unknowns in the deadly Tennessee blaze from November 2016 include windspeed and the fate of the teens suspected of starting the fire.
Georgia Southern's Statesboro Campus is home to the world's largest assortment of tick specimens.
Michy Ramos is the first Georgia high schooler to attend the Joint Antarctic School Expedition.
When completed, the Northwest Connector Trail will add 3 miles to the city's Beltline system.
Students gain outdoor learning opportunities on the walking trail.
Get ready to land largemouth bass, catfish, and crappie in Georgia lakes.
Private landowners sold the Fires Creek land parcel this month, protecting a sensitive watershed and preserving a popular trail.
The 15,000-square-foot range joins the park's zipline, paddleboarding area, and mountain biking trails.
You have plenty of choices of places to walk off your dinner on guided hikes in Tennessee and Georgia.
More than 2.7 million people flocked to this wild reserve in 2016.
The cat made a full recovery after hikers discovered it partially paralyzed on the sand.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's tracker pinpoints car collisions in Atlanta.
From Civil War sites to cascading waterfalls, North Georgia is full of great fall hiking options.
NASA is joining with The Nature Conservancy's North American Cities program to prioritize greenspace in Atlanta.
Check out BACKPACKER Contributors and Editors's author page.
Check out BACKPACKER Contributors and Editors's author page.
A roundup of places to stay for the "adventurous indoorsman."
The annual festival at the Hardigree Wildlife Sanctuary brings together outdoorspeople of all stripes.
Thanks to Tropical Storm Irma, all camping reservations for Cumberland are null and void until mid October.
Check out BACKPACKER Contributors and Editors's author page.
After leaving their campsite at Table Rock, hikers lost sight of trail and called 911 at 1:30 am.
With brilliant fall colors on deck, here are six ways to get your foliage fix near Atlanta.
Check out BACKPACKER Contributors and Editors's author page.
Check out BACKPACKER Contributors and Editors's author page.
NOAA Fisheries designated critical habitat on seven Georgia rivers where endangered fish spawn.
Sweetwater State Park is the most popular in Georgia—with 800,000 visitors—but you can still paddle your way to solitude.
According to Georgia Poison Control, snake bites are up close to 50 percent this year in Georgia.
Sometimes called the Mount Rushmore of the Confederacy, the granite relief of Davis, Lee, and Jackson is the center of a charged debate.
Cloudland Canyon State Park, Georgia