Coleman River Trail
Jul 29th 2008adminFishing & Hiking & N. Georgia
The Coleman River Trail is a short, moderately easy walk in the most North Eastern parts of the Chattahoochee National Forest. It’s only about a mile each way from the trailhead at the Coleman’s confluence with the much larger Tallulah River in Rabun County, GA. The Tallulah itself is one Georgia’s better, but crowded, trout streams with clear, cool water cascading towards the headwaters of Lake Burton and the other Georgia Power impoundments of Rabun County.
The Coleman is a much smaller, and steeper stream, and the path that bears its name follows the river up a moderate gulch under a canopy of Rodadendron, white pines, and hemlocks. The river itself is boulder strewn throughout, and offers quite a few spots to drop off the trail and get your feet wet on a hot summer’s day.
The Coleman is designated an artificial lure only stream from the Tallulah up to the Forest Service Road 54, claiming to hold some native Brook Trout. Note that many of the better looking fishing holes were quite a ways down below the trail, so plan on bringing boots in the least when fishing here, and maybe even some rappel gear!
One thing to note, as mentioned on several websites regarding the condition of the bridges, they are rickety at best - however none span higher than a couple feet.
Some photos:
Introducing the Whiteside Mountain Trail, near Cashiers, NC (pronounced cashers, not casheers). Enough moisture stuck around through the advancing cold front from the night before to lend all of the truly fun weather conditions, you know: snow, ice, and low hanging clouds that would create a winter playground in the Southern Blure Ridge.
By the time we reached the first overlook, the clouds had closed in, providing a sensational, yet erie setting - especially when thousand foot cliffs lay near by. Not to worry, cliffs are well marked on the main trail, however overlooks become more tedious on spurs and scrambles. Over the next few hours, as we completed the loop and explored some spur trails and scrambled up, over, and out to miscellaneous ledges. We were offered fleeting glimpses of the views between the hanging clouds passing through our vantage points. We even had snow flurries off and on again through the second half of our hike, making it a unique experience, and other wordly compared to the heat and humidity found here during summer escapades.
In the hot summer months, I try to stick to the river trails so that a quick dip can be a quick fix for our infamous heat and humidity. In winter, it seems that Georgia mountain trails take on a whole new identity once the orange and yellow trees succumb to their winter hibernation. Bluffs once enclosed by canopy, now offer stunning views of the valley floors below. I can’t help but wonder if the Blue Ridge were named this time of year, with endless ridge after ridge rolling off into the horizon like waves at sea.
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