Licklog Ridge Trail
The longest and most demanding trail in the wilderness, with Ocoee River and North Carolina views near the summit.
- Distance
- 5.9 mi one way
- Elevation gain
- 2,284 ft
- Trail type
- Out & Back
- Difficulty
- Strenuous
- Crossings
- No crossings recorded
- Best season
- Fall 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
Licklog Ridge is the longest trail in Big Frog Wilderness and the one most accounts call the hardest, climbing ridge line the whole way. Near the top the trees open up enough to see the Ocoee River below and the mountains of North Carolina beyond it, a view none of the other approach trails offer.
The trailhead itself is easy to miss, set back about a hundred meters into the woods off Forest Service Road 221. Note the exact spot before you go looking for it.
Marquee feature
Views of the Ocoee River and the mountains of North Carolina
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