Beech Bottom Trail
The standard way in to Jacks River Falls, on an old grade with one crossing at the end.
- Distance
- 10 mi round trip
- Elevation gain
- 990 ft
- Trail type
- Out & Back
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Crossings
- 1 crossing
- Best season
- Year round. Best late spring through fall.
Wilderness status
Inside Cohutta Wilderness
Bicycles
Bicycles are prohibited on this trail. Mechanized transport, including mountain bikes, is banned in designated wilderness under federal law by the Wilderness Act of 1964. This is enforced by the Forest Service. Do not ride here.
The trail
Beech Bottom is the route most people take to Jacks River Falls, and it earns that by keeping the walking easy and the wading to almost nothing. The trail follows an old roadbed along the flank of Van Arthur Lead, climbing to its high point before losing elevation gradually through hardwood and rhododendron until it drops into the flat bottomland the trail is named for. This easy grade, combined with a good summer swimming hole, makes it the most popular trail in the combined Cohutta and Big Frog Wilderness.
One crossing of Beech Bottom Creek puts you on the far bank, in an area where camping is now closed so the land can recover from past overuse. From there it's a short walk upstream on the Jacks River Trail to the falls. Expect company on summer weekends. Come on a Tuesday in October and you may have the pool to yourself.
Marquee feature
Shortest approach to Jacks River Falls
Getting there
Forest Service roads to the Cohutta trailheads are gravel, seasonally gated, and often without cell service. Download directions before you leave pavement.
Access roads and winter closures
Open trailhead in Google Maps
Stay near the trailheads
Sherpa Camp — a cabin at the edge of the wilderness.
The drive in from Atlanta or Chattanooga is long enough that most people are better off sleeping near the gate than starting at 4 a.m. Sherpa Camp is a small cabin on Holly Creek, on the western edge of the Cohutta Wilderness, about 25 minutes from Ellijay. It sleeps five, with a covered porch, a firepit, and a creek. Cell service ends before you get there.
See Sherpa Camp