Coopers Furnace and Pine Mountain Summit from Old River Road

Let’s hike Pine Mountain near Cartersville along with a trip to the historic Cooper's Iron Furnace.  For this hike we will start at the Coopers Furnace Day Use Area on Old River Road.   

We will first visit Coopers Furnace, an old iron furnace used in the mid 1850s and early 1860s until it the furnace operations were destroyed by General Sherman in 1864.  The furnace itself survived and is interesting to visit.  We will start towards Pine Mountain using the Coopers Furnace Connector trails to the base of Pine Mountain. 

We will begin our climb up the east side of Pine Mountain using the East Loop trail.     As we head up to the top of the mountain we will gain approximately 800 feet of altitude, reaching the David Archer overlook with an excellent view of Lake Allatoona.  

After a short break to take in the view, we will begin heading down the mountain using a little known or used trail that tracks back along a ridge line all the way to the Etowah River.  Be aware, this trail is very steep in part of the decent and hiking poles would be very useful to assist with the hike down.  

If time permits, we will visit some of the ruins of the old mining operations that operated in Hurricane Hollow before returning to the Coopers Furnace day use area and our cars. 

Our hike will transit about 7 miles with a total gain of about 1300 feet, taking us about 3 hours to complete.  I would definitely not recommend this hike for beginners due to the overall elevation gain and length of the hike.

There are bathrooms at in the Cooper Furnace day use area.  

• Google Maps recognizes Coopers Furnace Day Use Area
• The coordinates for this trailhead parking are 34.164509, -84.733437