Hemlock Falls Trail
May 29th, 2009 by Admin 1
Nearest Town: Clarkesville, Georgia
Hemlock Falls Trailhead
Trailhead Location: End of dirt road beginning across from the Lake Burton Fish Hatchery and Moccasin Creek State Park along 197 (approx. 2 miles)
Trail Lenght: 1.5 miles In and out
Difficulty: Easy
Directions: From Clarkesville-Take Hwy 197 North approx. 23 miles, take left on dirt road across from the Lake Burton Fish Hatchery, (look for signs for Hemlock Falls Trail) travel on rough dirt road for about 2 miles. From Hiawassee-Take Hwy 76 to Hwy 197 (on right), take right on dirt road across from the Lake Burton Fish Hatchery, (look for signs for Hemlock Falls Trail) travel on rough dirt road for about 2 miles (parking at trailhead)
One of the trails we checked out while camping mid-week last week at Wildcat was the Hemlock Falls Trail. Before the hike we spent a little time kayaking on Lake Burton accessing the water from the free/public boat launch at the Hatchery which we loved.
Lake Burton
Lake Burton near Fish Hachery
On our way along the dirt road leading to the trailhead we passed a neat little camp called Camp Winfield and we all thought it looked like fun and we will have to check it out in more detail at some point. Might be a nice place for the kids to hang out for a week this summer?
Camp Windfield
Camp Windfield
It was around 3pm when we reached the trailhead and started off. One of the things we noticed about this trail is that although you can’t always see it, it parallels a nice stream and you can always hear it through the brush as you hike. The batteries ran out again so we weren’t able to get many pictures but that will just give me a good excuse to come back to the area, right? 
It didn’t seem to get as much traffic as I would have thought being near the Lake. It is also said that this trail gives you access up to Addis Gap which is along the section of the Appalachian Trail that I did recently.
Hemlock Falls Trail. Near a local campsite off the trail
It was a decent, although fairly short trail and has its share of stream crossing (typical of many trails in the Chattahoochee National Forest area) with chances to stop and take it all in. If you haven’t, check it out sometime.
