Etowah Trail - New Green Blazed Trail
Jan 14th, 2009 by Admin 1
I have more information for our readers and hikers looking for hikes near Canton, Ga. regarding the green and yellow blazed trails which extend the old preexisting Etowah Trail system. I will also need to do some backpedaling on my previous post: Etowah Trail-What in the Green Blazes? and make a formal apology to those involved for sounding impatient to say the least. Please read my first post on this trail system by clicking on the link above to get the whole scoop.
I now know why there isn’t a whole lot of information out there on these trails. For one thing they were just completed a couple weeks ago by the Boyscout Troup 241. It seems I just happened to pick a great time to hike this trail again after being away for several months. 
While hiking the entire trail system again, this time with plenty of daylight to spare, I ran into a couple of gentlemen from troop 241. They were in the process of blazing the orange section 
which loops away from the river towards the new Canton West area and returns to the river further down the Etowah Trail - white blaze . They were kind enough to show me the map they are in the process of making that should be available to the public in the near future including the mileage for these trails. They were also kind enough to fill me in a little on some of the other questions I had.
When following the Etowah Trail that runs along the river all the way out to the 4 way dirt road intersection before reaching Hightower church,
At the 4 way dirt road intersection you have the following choices:
Left - Flat unmarked trail that follows the river (Corp of Engineer land). (Does not link up with other trails but at one point gets close to the green trail at its furthest point and you can see it if you look up through the woods.)
Right - Ascends up old dirt road up to a gated entrance and outer border of hiking area. Take small trail that starts about 100 ft back down dirt road which heads toward river to link back up with orange loop trail.
Straight - Continues on an old washed out dirt road to a clearing near Hightower Church. ( I recommend taking this direct and about 40 feet down the road after intersection you will see the white blaze trail heads off to your left. If you take this way you will soon come to another intersection and the sign (picture below). 
Go straight ( Church ) and you will end up at the church area clearing. Go left (E Long Trail-Green Blaze) and you will take nice long loop around and wind back at the church area clearing.
If you decide to head straight out to the clearing near the church you will have a few options (clockwise):
White Blaze - heads back to Boling Park and meets up with the Green Blaze Trail on the way.
Unmarked dirt road (center) heads out to eventually hit river. Along the way you will cross over the green blaze trail near its furthest point out on loop.
Green Blaze - Is a longer trail which loops back to intersect with the white blaze trail and probably the best of all the trails in the system thus far. E Long Trail - (Green Blaze) apprx. 3 mile wooded loop with great natural beauty including scenes of creeks, the Etowah River and wildlife.
Additional White Blaze - Is supposed to continue to be extended by scout troop 241 with possible plans to continue on. Their is currently an effort underway to extend to the Georgia National Cemetery but this is still in its preliminary stages. Let me know if you are interested in participating in this effort. I have contact information that I can give you through email.
http://s1.webstarts.com/EtowahTrail/trail_map.html is the link for the promised map with mileage. The Scoutmaster says that everything close-in to Boling Park is fairly accurate as to mileage, but the further out you go, the less accurate it becomes.
Hey, my daughter and I and our dog met you today on the unmarked dirt road near near the Church on the Etowah Trails today. We like this website. The information you provide is great. Thanks.
Yes, I remember you guys.
Thanks for the kind words on the site. I wondered if you got the chance to try out the Pine Log Creek Trails yet?
As always, thanks for your website and all the great information. You’ve helped me out before and I was curious if you could help me again. Have you come across any good camping spots (similiar to Long Creek Falls) around the Dahlonega area? Thanks in advance!
Does anyone have info on other access points besides Boling Park? I like to take my dog, but there’s no dogs allowed in the park itself. The park ends after the jogging loop, but they’re enforcing even that small section.
Hi Tom,
We put a tip and directions in an earlier post regarding additional access. Here is the post with that information.
http://www.campnpost.com/hikes/boling-park-trails/
For other info on this area you can use the (search) box and look for either etowah trails, boling park, boling park trails and most of our posts should come up as well as comments from other local hikers.
Hope this helps!
hello, i was wanted to see if you knew of anywhere to ride horses at?