Brasstown Bald, Georgia State High Point and AT Approach Trail

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
4/23/2017	1.2		500'

Parking for Brasstown Bal: Huge parking lot in park

Directions: The short paved trail to the summit starts near the restrooms and general store.

U.S. State High Point #11!

From South Carolina, we headed back to Brasstown Bald, which is actually close to (but not on) the Appalachian Trail. We had pouring rain, but I now had my huge Frogg Toggs at least. There were only 2 other cars in the humongous parking lot. There is a .6 mile paved trail from the parking lot to the summit. It's actually a steep trail, with 500' elevation gain.

At the tower, we spoke to a park ranger who told us about pigs that live on the mountain. We walked around the lower portion of the tower, but the fire tower was closed. We asked the ranger, and he said they hadn't bothered to open it today due to the poor weather. Not many visitors today. There are signs showing you all of the mountains you could see, but we saw nothing! I hate my Frogg Toggs already. They are so long I have to roll them up a lot.

After leaving Brasstown Bald, we headed to the Amicalola Lodge for one night. The hostel we were staying at didn't have any private rooms for tonight, so we decided to stay near the start of the approach trail just for the evening. After checking in (the room is gorgeous and looks out onto the woods), we quickly headed down to the visitor center to look for the start of the approach trail before it got dark. The approach trail isn't officially part of the AT, but many people start their AT hikes there. The visitor center was closed, and we found the start of the trail right behind it. We were thrilled to see one father seeing off his son at the start of his son's hike. We are here!!!! Only 2,108.5 + 8.7 miles to go lol.

We didn't eat at the lodge for dinner, and just snacked instead. We ate there for breakfast (not included in the room price). The food is "southern" food, so not very vegan friendly. It was fine for me, less exciting for Glen.