Sweetwater Creek Eastside Trails and Mill Ruins

Let’s hike some of the trails at Sweetwater Creek State Park on the Eastside of the creek.  Our hike will start with the complete loop using the relatively new Orange Trail and parts of the Yellow Trail to explore the more hilly and difficult Eastside trails.  As we descend the Yellow trail back towards the river, we will pass an old cave that was used by Native Americans many centuries ago.  We will also take a short detour off the Yellow trail to view the Manchester Mill Ruins from across the creek. From there we will follow the Yellow trail back up steam and cross the Iron bridge over Sweetwater Creek.

Now on the Westside of the creek, we will follow the red trail downstream all the way to the old Mill Ruins.  When these mills were operating in the mid 1800’s, the five story Mill was the tallest structure in the entire Atlanta region.  Like most of the other mills operating in the area during the Civil War, they were also burned by Sherman during his campaign to take Atlanta. They were never rebuilt after the war.  After a stop at the ruins, we will take the White Trail back to Visitor Center and the end of our hike.  

In total, we will cover approximately 6.5 miles in about 2:45 hours.  Due to the elevation gain on this hike and its length, I would not recommend this hike for new beginners.  However those with multiple D-2 and D-3 experience should be fine. This hike is located in a State Park so parking will cost $5 or use of an annual GA State Park parking pass. There are bathroom facilities in the Visitor Center near where we will depart along with an outstanding nature and history museum in the Visitor Center if you find that you have arrived early.  No cost for the museum beyond the parking fee.  

Coordinates for Parking Lot are 33.753299, -84.628643