Yonah Mountain is a popular small park encompassing a single stony rise near Dahlonega, GA. The mountain stands by itself, visible from both the Appalachian Trail and distantly from the area of Dawsonville, providing an incredible view from the cliffs surrounding the summit. A good location for spotting Atlantans out for the weekend, and a great hike for dogs, enthusiastic kids, and less enthusiastic spouses, this basic but beautiful jaunt makes an awesome opening to this winter’s hiking season.
Is it goat approved? The trail is heavily used, but sparsely maintained or patrolled by the powers that be. I would not recommend a goat because of the traffic level, but it could probably be gotten away with here.
How you get there: Google “Yonah Mountain Parking Lot”. On the satellite image Yonah Mountain Road appears to travel up to the summit – but this road is gated and inaccessible. The actual parking lot is at 34°38’14.6″N 83°43’36.1″W off Chamber’s Road. Come early! The parking lot is large but heavily traffic. However, if 8 am isn’t going to work with your three year old, there is fairly steady turnover of cars and you can get a spot later in the day.
Time for hike: The distance for this hike is 4.4 miles round trip out and back. Expect a nearly relentless uphill the whole way to the summit.
Best season to do this hike: Year around. Wildflowers bloom throughout the summer, and primitive camping is allowed even on the summit throughout the year. However, be aware that the Army trains at the park, and the trail is closed on training days.
Trails to Take
The trail starts on the left hand side of the parking lot, about even with the pit toilets, (yes, that is the source of the strange smell you are going to be wondering about). It climbs first slowly through a lowland forest of unremarkable hardwoods. A short bridge crosses an unremarkable creek. Then, the trail comes up parallel to a steep incline, which develops into a wooded cliff. Boulders pop up, growing larger and larger, finally culminating into a rock scramble at one point.
Beyond the rock scrabble a field pops up out of the trees, leading to the first view of the hike, looking northwest. The trail continues on the far side of the field, growing steeper and showing signs of extensive erosion.
The trail comes up to a gravel road, turns right onto the road, and continues up to the Army training area. There are more pit toilets here. The trail splits at this point – if you want to go to the summit stay on the gravel trail to your left. This trail continues up a steady pace and begins to cross small rock faces. The number of wildflowers increases. The trail crosses a large rock face. At the far side of the rock face is another trail split. The right hand trail goes to a spectacular view at a primitive campsite. The left hand trail passes a small spring and continues, again at a steady climb, all the way up to the summit, which is around a quarter mile away at this point.
The summit itself is a bit of a let down for most people. The views are nonexistent, though side trails will take you out to the notoriously dangerous cliff faces where better, if stupidly dangerous views, exist. The main object of the summit is a large clearing surrounded by picturesquely stunted oak trees that pretty much screams “camp here”. Yeah, you can camp here. In fact, I plan to do so in the future.
Anyway, turn around and go back downhill to the car when you’re ready to go onto the more challenging stuff the winter hiking season has to offer!
TRAIL MAP
BE WARNED
- Parking fills up fast in reasonable weather. Come early to get your pick of parking!
- The US Army trains on the mountain, (they go rock climbing or something). When they are there you can’t be. Call 706-864-3367 to check on what days they are in residence.
- Reminder that Yonah Mountain Road doesn’t actually get the public to Yonah Mountain. The real parking is off Chamber’s Road nearby.
- The cliffs of this mountain have claimed many lives, including those of experienced hikers and backpackers. The views are not really good enough to die for, so stay back!
In sum:
Always go the fun way. Life is too short to be boring.
packgoats 