Fork Ridge Trail
A short connector on the Benton MacKaye Trail, known locally for its fall color.
- Distance
- 2 mi one way
- Elevation gain
- Not recorded
- Trail type
- Point to Point
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Crossings
- No crossings recorded
- Best season
- Fall
Wilderness status
Inside Big Frog 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
Fork Ridge is short and mostly known for one thing: fall color. It is a connector on the Benton MacKaye Trail system near the Ocoee River side of the wilderness. It is not the trail most people come to Big Frog to walk on its own, but it links cleanly into longer routes for anyone building a loop.
Marquee feature
Fall color along a short Benton MacKaye connector
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