Georgia
36,808,634 acres (1.6% of U.S.)
Statehood 1788 (4th of 50)
Capital: Atlanta
Population: 10,711,908 (8th of 50)
High Point: Brasstown Bald (4,784 feet)
Best time of year: Spring for mild temperatures and flowering dogwood blooms
We recently published our guidebook 50 States of Great: Road Trip Guide to America, so we decided to start a new type of blog post where we create a travel itinerary for all 50 states, in addition to our usual National Forest and National Park entries. After starting with Kansas, we decided to do an east coast state. We made an ambitious seven-day plan starting in the northwest corner of Georgia, with many options to extend the trip.
Day 1
Ed Jenkins National Recreation Area (click here for our blog post)
Formerly named after Springer Mountain, the southern terminus of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail (click here for our blog post) is marked with a bronze plaque and trail register. Most backpackers start from potholed Forest Service Road 42 and ascend 0.9 miles south to the summit then spend the night in the open-front trail shelter or turn around to head back north. For day hikers, a nice option is to add the eastern part of the Benton MacKaye Trail to make a 4.7-mile loop that passes Owen Vista.
Chattahoochee National Forest (click here for our blog post)
The Gennett Poplar (a tulip-poplar tree more than five feet in diameter) is accessed by hiking 1.8 miles out-and-back with two stream crossings on the Bear Creek Tail. Other large tulip-poplars and yellow buckeyes are found in 175-acre Sosebee Cove Scenic Area. You can spend the night riverside at the free Hickey Gap Campground, one of our Top 10 National Forest Campgrounds.
Optional stop at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park (click here for our blog post)
Half of this park is situated in Tennessee around Lookout Mountain, but at Georgia’s Chickamauga battlefield a seven-mile long driving tour explains what happened there on September 20, 1863.
Optional stops at Brasstown Bald, Tallulah Gorge State Park, Amicolola Falls State Park, and Cloudland Canyon State Park
Start your itinerary a day early in Georgia’s northeast corner by enjoying some State Parks and the state’s high point Brasstown Bald, managed by Chattahoochee National Forest.
Day 2
Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park (click here for our blog post)
Wait out the morning traffic into Atlanta by driving or hiking to the top of this steep hill in the city’s suburbs.
Georgia Aquarium
Holding more than 10-million gallons of water in its numerous tanks, Georgia Aquarium is the best in the nation (even better than California’s Monterey Bay Aquarium). It contains more than 500 aquatic species, but the most impressive are the 30-foot-long whale sharks that reside in the 6.3-million-gallon Ocean Voyager Gallery, the world’s largest indoor marine exhibit.
Optional stop at Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park (click here for our blog post)
A short walk from the visitor center is required to enter King’s boyhood home (which is wheelchair accessible). Silence is mandatory while inside. Outside the neighboring King Center, the Reflection Pool contains the tombs of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King, as well as an eternal flame.
Optional stop at Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area (click here for our blog post)
Established in 1978, this park is a combination of government jurisdictions and private land that protects 48 miles of the Chattahoochee River downstream from Lake Sidney Lanier northeast of Atlanta. Due to its lack of large rapids it is popular with canoers.
Day 3
Andersonville National Historic Site (click here for our blog post)
This notorious Civil War prison remains an active military cemetery and is also home to the National Prisoner of War Museum run by the National Park Service. This may not be the best place to bring children, given that the exhibits in the museum do not pull punches in their depictions of the brutality endured by captured combatants throughout the ages.
Museum of Aviation in Macon
This free Air Force aviation museum has airplanes on display both inside and outside, everything from a P-40 Flying Tiger to an SR-71 Blackbird.
Optional stop at Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park (click here for our blog post)
One of the best examples of temple mounds from the Mississippian Culture that began around 1,100 years ago. Starting from the National Park Service museum (which contains artifacts dating back to 8000 B.C.E.), walk under the railroad tracks, go inside the replica earth lodge, and up the stairs to access the top of the 55-foot-tall Great Temple Mound.
Day 4
Savannah
Savannah is a great city for walking that offers countless public squares, beautifully landscaped Forsyth Park with its iconic fountain, spooky Bonaventure Cemetery (see photo), legendary River Street shopping district, and architectural gems like the birthplace of Juliette Gordon Low (who founded the Girl Scouts of America in 1912). Do not miss a photo at the tree-lined entrance to Wormsloe State Historic Site, a plantation located on the edge of an expansive marsh.
Optional stop at Tybee Island
After touring the city, drive on to the Atlantic Ocean for some beach time. Once you have soaked up some saltwater, sand, and sun, check out the Tybee Island Light Station and Museum, built at this site in 1773, then reconstructed after the Civil War. Also, check out the nearby World War II-era Battery Garland in the decommissioned Fort Screven.
Day 5
Fort Pulaski National Monument (click here for our blog post)
Located 17 miles from Savannah on Cockspur Island, photogenic Fort Pulaski National Monument protects a brick fort named for a Polish Count who was killed in action during the American Revolution. Claimed by the Confederacy early during the Civil War, it was surrendered to the Union Army in April 1862 after thirty hours of shelling from nearby Tybee Island.
Optional stop at Fort Frederica National Monument (click here for our blog post)
The British established Fort Frederica in the 1730s to stop Spanish encroachment from Florida into their American colonies. The town that formed around the fort peaked at a population of 1,000. Today it is a beautiful setting with tabby wall ruins and Spanish moss-draped trees.
Day 6
Cumberland Island National Seashore (click here for our blog post)
Only accessible by boat, most visitors arrive by ferry from St. Marys (reservations recommended) and spend a full day here. Bicycles can be rented once you arrive on the island (they are not allowed on the ferry) and are permitted on the many miles of roads, but not on the trails or beach. While it is fun to spend time beachcombing or seeing the ruins of the Dungeness mansion, what really sets Cumberland Island apart are the 50 miles of hiking trails that cut through the maritime forest of twisty live oak trees. Watch for feral horses, white-tailed deer, armadillos, turkeys, and other birds along the way.
Day 7
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge
The largest freshwater wetlands in the country are home to about 12,000 alligators. The baldcypress swamp spreads across 448,000 acres around the Suwannee River. There are no roads across Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and it is most easily accessible from the west through Stephen C. Foster State Park, which has a campground and kayak rentals to access camping platforms in the swamp.
Day 8+ optional swing through western Georgia
Clearing the forests for farmland in the mid-1800s is what allowed these 16 gullies to erode the soft red-clay hills into the colorful spectacle they are today (with many shades of orange, pink, lavender, and yellow). The 1,003-acre State Park was established in 1971 to protect the area and it is featured as a U-Haul Super Graphic. The best views are from the rim walk, but to truly appreciate the depth (up to 150 feet deep) and palette of colors you need to hike down into some of the nine canyons with trails.
Jimmy Carter National Historical Park (click here for our blog post)
The former Governor, Nobel Peace Prize-winner, and U.S. President Jimmy Carter is the most well-known peanut farmer in Plains, and was a regular at the Plains Peanut Festival held every September. The National Park Service manages the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park with two visitor centers, one at the former Plains High School and the other at the family’s 360-acre farm.
Learn more about Georgia’s Most Scenic Drive, Wonderful Waterfall, Top State Park, and other categories in in our new travel guidebook 50 States of Great: Road Trip Guide to America.
Raven About The Parks 