Chestnut Lead Trail
A short two mile point to point on an old logging grade down to the Conasauga.
- Distance
- 2 mi one way
- Elevation gain
- 974 ft
- Trail type
- Point to Point
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Crossings
- 2 crossings
- Best season
- Year round. The trailhead road closes in winter, about January 1 to early March.
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
Two miles down an old lead road to the river, which makes this the shortest honest way into the Conasauga corridor. The grade is a relic of the logging era and it still reads as one, cut and benched along the slope.
Some of the timber through here is large and the understory opens up in a way that lets you see the shape of the ground. As a point to point it wants a shuttle or a plan, and most people pair it with the river trail rather than walking it alone.
Marquee feature
Old logging grade through large timber
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 MapsLoops that use this trail
- Tearbritches, Conasauga River, and Chestnut Lead
10.5 mile loop
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