Songbird Trail
An easy loop near Lake Conasauga built for birding, with a beaver pond.
- Distance
- 1.7 mi loop
- Elevation gain
- 164 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Crossings
- No crossings recorded
- Best season
- Spring and early summer for birding.
Wilderness status
Outside the wilderness, Lake Conasauga Recreation Area
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
A mile and seven tenths on nearly flat ground through habitat managed for songbirds, with a beaver pond partway around. The grass and shrub openings here are cut on purpose and kept open with prescribed burning, set right next to mature hardwoods, conifer stands, and the pond itself, and that mix of habitat types packed into a small area is what draws in so many species. This is the trail for a morning with coffee and binoculars rather than for mileage, and in May it earns its name.
Pairs naturally with the Lake Conasauga loop and the fire tower for a full day at the top of the mountain with no serious climbing involved. Good for children and for anyone easing into the range.
Marquee feature
Beaver pond and the best songbird habitat in the range
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