Sunday Morning Hike: Cooper’s Loop- An AOC First

We will go on the Laurel Ridge Trail to the Allatoona Lake Project Management Office, and after walking a short distance on the Cooper Furnace Trail we will take a recently opened trail to the summit of Pine Mountain. After admiring the view from the summit, we will descend on another recently opened trail that will take us to the connector between the East Loop of the Pine Mountain Trail and the parking lot where we would have left our cars, for a total walking distance of about 6 miles and an ascent of about 1100 ft. The trails leading up and down the mountain are steep and you should bring a pair of hiking poles. I have been told that these trails are less than three months old.

This route passes through a mixed pine and hardwood forest. It features a vast variety of trees, shrubs and wildflowers. Wildlife is abundant here and we will walk past a pond inhabited by beaver and muskrat.

From Atlanta go to I-75 Exit 290, take a right onto GA 20 East then an immediate right onto Spur 20. Continue about 3.5 miles. We will meet at the SECOND trailhead on the right. If you reach the end of the road you went about a mile too far.

Free!