Tibbs Trail
A short multi-use trail through Holly Creek Preserve, reached via the Windy Gap OHV system.
Photo by Shiloh Spry
- Distance
- 2.2 mi one way
- Elevation gain
- Not recorded
- Trail type
- Point to Point
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Crossings
- No crossings recorded
- Best season
- Spring through fall. Closed January through March with the rest of the Windy Gap system.
Wilderness status
Outside the wilderness
Bicycles
Bicycles are permitted. This trail lies outside the designated wilderness boundary. Yield to hikers and expect two-way traffic on blind corners.
The trail
Tibbs Trail runs through the Nature Conservancy's Holly Creek Preserve, two hundred fifty acres bordered on three sides by the Chattahoochee National Forest, before continuing onto Forest Service land toward Grassy Mountain. It is open to both hikers and mountain bikers, part of the same multi-use system as Windy Gap and Milma Creek Trails.
Only the southern half is currently open. The northern portion was decommissioned for poor trail conditions, and there is no longer access from the Lake Conasauga Overflow Campground. Reach what remains by way of Milma Creek Trail, off Windy Gap Trail.
Marquee feature
A Nature Conservancy preserve trail connecting to Grassy 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