Pine Mountain Trail (Meriwether and Harris Counties, Georgia)

Talking to other hikers as I've started integrating into that community in Georgia, many of them have told me of the Pine Mountain Trail or PMT, as they like to call it. It's a long day hike or has several primitive camp sites along the way, making it a good target for an overnight trip. When one of the local meetups posted the trip as a shuttle hike, I thought it would be a great opportunity to see this part of Georgia, which I had not yet visited. 

Leaving my hours about 6:00 AM, I drive the nearly two hours in a light drizzle down towards FDR State Park near Warm Springs Georgia. Our defined meeting place is at a tall radio tower, which is visible for many miles. When I pull into the parking lot, I see a few hikers have already arrived and are preparing themselves for a long day on the trail. The organizer has put together two hikes in the area. The first will do an eight mile loop, while the second does a supported shuttle hike the entire length of the PMT, 23 miles. Trying to be socially responsible in during the COVID-19 pandemic, each group is limited to no more than ten hikers.

After a quick round of introductions, we quickly hit the trail at about 8:15 AM. This first section has a number of small waterfalls and for the most part follows the tiny creek forming these falls. They are quite pretty, especially Cascade Falls, which is the largest of them at about eight feet. Just above Cascade Falls is a small stone overhang cave known as Wolfsden. Though, I don't see any wolves around, it's an interesting geologic formation and has probably provide shelter to a few critters over the eons. 

From here and for the next several miles, the trail elevation rises and falls as we travel over the various ridges that constitute Pine Mountain, which itself is just one long mountain ridge. Just after mile five, we hit a trailhead and our support driver is there with fresh water and snacks. Knowing that I need to continue training for an upcoming Grand Canyon trip, I opted to carry most of my weight today, but it's still nice to stop for a water break. 

My fellow hikers are very capable and as a group, we maintain around a three mile per hour pace. Before the trip leader can fully get his snack down, one of the other hikers is rearing to go and so, we do. This next section is much like the previous one with lots of ups and downs, but it passes through some beautiful country. 

As we climb towards Dowdell Knob, which is the highest point on the hike I can tell that I'm getting a little tired, but I continue on. Reaching the parking lot at the top, we find our support car once again and take a few minutes to put down some calories. This area of the park was a favorite of President Roosevelt's and apparently he visited it several times to take advantage of the mineral water soaks available nearby. The state park has erected a bronze statue of the former President, leg braces and all, overlooking the magnificent view from this point. This time of year, just a day or two into spring, it's a sea of green and quite stunning. We can also the radio tower where we started off in the distance.

Returning to the trail, we next reach a section which saw a Tornado blow through a decade or so ago. Apparently, the fallen trees left the trail in such a mess that it took a couple of years to reopen that section.Still, it passes through a section of tall grasses much like fictional Dortraki Sea from the Song of Ice and Fire novels. It gives the place a dark foreboding feeling and I think we're all happy to reach the end of that section.

Crossing the highway, we again meet up with our support car and after allowing a couple of the hikers to refill on water, we head up a couple of switchbacks to an area known as the Rock Garden. Here, we take a few minutes to rest on the stone surface and put down a quick lunch. The sun is really starting to warm things up and I can feel a sense of fatigue coming on. I do my best to drink more water.

After a few minutes rest, we push on. The next several miles are more of the same with lots of ups and downs. Several sections of the trail, follow below stone embankments with steep drop offs on one side or the other. It's pretty scenic and I enjoy hike places like this. That said though, the trail does have a lot of rocks embedded in it and it can be hard on the feet. Luckily, my merrell hiking shoes have a pretty think sole and I don't really feel the rocks. I would recommend against doing this trail in trail runners though for this reason.

With the miles adding up, I can sense myself getting dehydrated and perhaps, slightly overheated as the sun bares down on us. I keep pushing on, but as we reach the park headquarters around mile 20, I can sense that the factors building up and I opt to stop here. I catch a ride with our support car and await the other hikers at the finish point. They are all very positive though exhausted. It was quite a trek. They even suggest that I should come back and do the part I skipped. Perhaps someday I will, but I'm not that kind of hiker and I don't really need that validation to check off my list. I was still able to get in 20.7 miles, which is the longest hike I've done in quite a while and a good warm up for the Grand Canyon.