Mountaintown Creek Trail

Mountaintown drains the east side of the range toward the Coosawattee, and the trail follows it through some of the better creek habitat in north Georgia. Wild trout hold here and the water stays cold well into summer under the canopy. The trail never strays more than about twenty feet from the creek and crosses it around twenty times, most of them manageable but a few that will get your feet wet regardless.

The upper end, reached by a steep forest road climb from Three Forks Road on FS 64, runs through quiet hardwood benches with a scattering of small waterfalls and cascades, plus some unusually large water bars built into the old roadbed to keep vehicles out. Around the two mile mark the trail narrows and steepens, rocky and tight enough that a slip drops you straight into the creek. Most of the corridor sits in the Pink Knob Inventoried Roadless Area, the largest such area in north Georgia, outside the designated wilderness, which is why this has become one of the state's known backcountry mountain bike descents. Past the Pinhoti Trail junction at 2.8 miles the grade eases, but the trail also sees less traffic and more downed timber and overgrowth this far in. The Pinhoti connector toward Bear Creek is closed to bikes, so that stretch has to be walked.

The lower end dead ends onto Triple Hill Road, which is private property. Access here has been restricted before, and if the No Trespassing signs are back up, the way out is either a mile of backtracking to the Pinhoti Trail toward Bear Creek, or the full climb back the way you came to FS 64. Check current access locally before you commit to riding through.