West Fork Trail
A short connector continuing the Benton MacKaye Trail near the Ocoee River.
ThumbnailThis is a reference photo, not this trail. Have a photo of it? Post it in the Cohutta Wilderness Facebook group and it may end up here.
- Distance
- 2.4 mi one way
- Elevation gain
- Not recorded
- Trail type
- Point to Point
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Crossings
- No crossings recorded
- Best season
- Spring through fall
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
West Fork is short, a continuation of Benton MacKaye Trail Section 11 near a power station on the Ocoee River side of the wilderness. On its own it is barely a destination, but it is part of the route for anyone through hiking the Benton MacKaye, and the Ocoee River is reachable within a few miles via that trail.
Marquee feature
A short Benton MacKaye connector near the Ocoee River
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