This year, I have committed myself to spend more time outdoors and that has taken the form of a 21′ in 21′ bucket list. My goal each month is to find one indoor and one outdoor activity to socialize safely and have a bit of fun. I have lived in Atlanta since late 2019, which means I spent three months exploring the city before lockdown and social distancing began.
At the beginning of the Pandemic, for a while there, I wasn’t interested in going to many places. Now I want to get out as much as possible, but in a safe manner. For my first two adventures, I chose The Black Hair Experience and hiking. The Black Hair Experience was interesting, but afterward, I craved a longer excursion. Red Top Mountain State Park fit the bill nicely.
Journey To The Mountain
Red Top Mountain State Park is in Acworth, GA but the trailhead I visited is in Cartersville, GA. I live in the suburbs of Atlanta and had no clue where to find the park, so I relied on Google Maps. Luckily, Google Maps took me straight to the trailhead where I met a group of women for our 5.5-mile hike. The ride up was easy and was a gradual climb, so my car had no issues getting to the trailhead.
When I arrived, I ran into a small snafu: parking. The parking lot was small, (maybe 20 car capacity), and it was full with no signs of anyone leaving any time soon. So, I parked in the grass across the street from the parking lot and decided that I may get a ticket, but no tow truck would go through the trouble of getting my car down a mountain.
Turns out other people thought like me because, by the time I left, my car was accompanied by others both in front of and behind my vehicle. Once I walked over to the trailhead, I noticed boxes that contained envelopes and parking information. However, I paid ahead online for $5. There was a small store at the trailhead where I could have paid for parking as well.
Georgia State Parks offer a Parkpass for $50 that they use for trail maintenance that is good for one year from the date of purchase. Due to the fact that I plan to visit Georgia parks all year long, the Parkpass is something I will purchase before my next hike. It’s only a $10 savings if I go once a month, but I already have a plan to go hiking twice in March, so I will get my money’s worth.
After parking, I met up with my friends and hit Homestead Trail.
Hiking Red Top Mountain – Homestead Trail
We began with a few steep steps down, but that followed a well-marked trail. The ground had been cleared well, and the yellow markers on the trees were very easy to spot. The Homestead trail does cross a street, but pedestrians can easily see cars coming around corners onto a straightaway that houses the connecting trailhead.
I brought hiking poles with me as a precautionary measure, but I did not use them once. The climb was gradual, and the second half of my hike was a loop. Toward the top, I did find myself using my thigh muscles more, but the section is fairly quick and the climb back down was just as gradual as the climb up. The Homestead Trail loop is great because you do not overlap, instead, the loop ends back at the street for the return to the connecting trailhead.
Views included several looks at Lake Allatoona. My group even stopped at an inlet where people were boating and where we sat on benches to hydrate before continuing up the mountain.
My Red Top Mountain State Park Experience
I won’t fool you, it was 37 degrees when we began hiking and 36 when we finished. Nonetheless, my group kept up a good pace, so I warmed up fairly quickly. The trail was well cleared and I had no issues making my way through and up the marked path. When others passed, I did have to go to the far side of the trail, so the path is not narrow, but not very wide either. I walked beside one person during my entire hike without any crowding.
Along the way, we ran across people walking their dogs, running, and a few families with their kids. Homestead Trail is not biking friendly, and though well paved, biking is not encouraged by park services. When I returned to my car, I was happy to see that nothing untoward happened to my vehicle for the 3 hours I was hiking.
Would I hike Red Top Mountain State Park trails again? Absolutely, and I am interested in returning for a challenging trail run come Spring!
This was my first hiking experience in Georgia, but I will definitely be hiking up more of the trails and mountains around the state soon.
