Hemp Top Trail – TN
The Tennessee half of Hemp Top, about five miles from the state line toward the Big Frog summit.
Photo by Griff Kerstine
- Distance
- 5 mi one way
- Elevation gain
- Not recorded
- Trail type
- Point to Point
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Crossings
- No crossings recorded
- Best season
- Winter for the views, spring through fall generally
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
This is the Tennessee half of Hemp Top Trail, picking up at Double Spring Gap on the state line where the Georgia section ends and continuing north toward the summit of Big Frog Mountain at 4,224 feet. The Forest Service map puts this section at about five miles. In winter the bare trees open views west into the Tennessee Valley and back south into Georgia that the canopy hides the rest of the year.
Segments connecting Chestnut Mountain Trail and this one are open to horse traffic as well as foot traffic, an exception to the hiker only rule on most trails in this wilderness.
Marquee feature
The ridge route from the state line to Big Frog Mountain
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