West Palisades with Some Off Trail Exploration

Let’s hike the West Palisades unit of CRNRA and do a little off trail exploration along the way. 

Warning, a small portion of this hike is planned to be off trail to reach the summit of a ridge.  Total off trail is estimated to be between 1/4 and 1/2 mile.  If you prefer to limit yourself to only established trails, this may not be the hike for you. 

We will start at the parking lot off Akers Drive.  We will begin our hike by heading down towards the river which is a fairly steep descent on a brand new trail.  At the river, we make our way out to the West Palisades Beach (well it's more of a sandy patch but you get the idea).  We will walk back along the river and then back up to the top of the ridge. We will follow the backbone ridge for about a mile and then begin a descent down end of the ridge, briefly meeting the Bob Callen trail and the Chattahoochee River.  

After hiking along the riverside trail, we will begin our ascent up towards the ridge line again.  Along the way, we will take an off-trail detour to climb a ridge that very few people have visited.  The ridge overlooks the river and the Bob Callen trail.  We will pick the most advantageous path to the top of this ridge but be aware, it will still be a bit of a steep climb up through the forest to reach the ridge summit. We will take our time on the climb up so no need to rush or fret about getting left behind.  

After a brief stop at the top, we will then decend back down to the established trail and regain the ridgeline once again and head back towards the parking lot.    

The 5 mile hike should take us about 2 hours to complete.  I would not recommend this hike to beginners due to the elevation gain and the difficult footing on some of the trails sections near the river and off trail.  There are no bathroom facilities at the trailhead.  This is a Chattahoochee River NRA site so parking costs $5 or use of a CRNRA annual pass.