Benton MacKaye Trail: Wallalah Mountain Summit & Toccoa River Swinging Bridge

April 08, 2016

Gadget and I can't get enough of the Benton MacKaye Trail!

The BMT, which rolls through over 80 miles of beautiful mountainland in Georgia alone, is the road less traveled. Its sister, the Appalachian Trail, can be thought of as the hiker superhighway. On the BMT, there's less people, less litter, less noise, and more views to treasure & keep all to yourself.

It's worth noting, though, that the serenity of the BMT does not take away from the difficulty of the walk. Not at all. The 1.7 mile uphill to the 3,100 foot summit was tough and unforgiving, climbing along the deep ridges of Wallalah Mountain.

Weird tumurous tree.

Beautiful view on a rock outcrop 0.3 miles from the summit

Taking in one last look before heading back down the mountain.

The 0.3 mile from the outcrop to the summit was seriously strenuous, and I was dragging my numb jello legs behind me, but we did it!

Cold winds howled on the summit, so we opted for the sunny rock outcrop a little ways down the mountain to rest on, and enjoy the culmination of our work.

Setting up daycamp. Notice how sloped the hill is.

The face of a girl who is SO HAPPY to be laying down!

"I'm a good girl. I did good."

Watching the clouds roll by and cast shadows on the hilly farmland below.

On the opposite side of the road where we parked at for hiking Wallalah is a washed out dirt road that leads to the Toccoa River Swinging Bridge. From the Wallalah trailhead, the BMT crosses over Highway 60, and eventually after ~7 miles, onto that dirt road en route to the bridge. This time, we cheated and drove to the bridge, but we want to walk the BMT to it next time.

It was both Gadget & my first time on a swinging bridge. What a weird sensation to step onto the bridge and feel it swaying in the wind....then the Toccoa River rushing underneath. This was quite a feat for Gadget, who is afraid of heights.