Georgia Hikes: East Palisades Trail

When we need a break from shooting the ‘Hooch, we turn to hiking the ‘Hooch on the East Palisades Trail. And we made sure to bring along our hammocks because we heard there was a great spot in a bamboo forest, so we made like panda bears and headed for the bamboo!

Getting to the East Palisades Trail

As the name suggests, this trail runs along the eastern side of the Chattahoochee River. The hike begins from the Indian Trail trailhead, located just inside the Perimeter through a neighborhood of some of Atlanta’s most beautiful houses. A lot of people choose to park along the side of the one-land dirt road, but there is a parking lot further up where the trailhead is with plenty of space to park and turn your car around.

Hiking the East Palisades Trail

The trail begins by following along Long Island Creek until it meets the Chattahoochee River. The trail then turns right and follows the river upstream. At the first intersection, we continued along the river rather than going backs into the woods. There were plenty of people out on the river, so it was great for people watching.

At the second intersection, we continued straight until the trail’s end not far ahead. Kevin then decided to forge his own trail (on a path that had clearly been forged before by other brave soles, though it is not technically a part of the trail) up the rocks to connect with the actual trail. You could get here much easier by simply going back to the second intersection and turning left.

The easy part of the hike was over, and we now climbed in elevation, keeping left at the next three intersections until we finally came to the observation deck. Here, we took a break and enjoyed the stunning view of the river below.

Then it was back down the trail. We kept left at the next intersection and descended the trail toward Cabin Creek where we found the ruins of a stone building and an old stone bridge that crosses the creek. Keep left at the intersections to continue back toward the Chattahoochee.

Perfect for Hammocking

The trail continues northbound following the river again. Along the banks of the river is the towering bamboo forest where we set up our hammocks for a nice long break of snacking, reading, and people watching as tubers floated by on the river.

On our way back, we got a little lost. We made our way back along the river and up into the woods to the point where we first crossed Cabin Creek. We kept left at the intersection past the creek where the trail began to follow the creek upstream. But here, the trail became narrow and indistinguishable as it ran along the river, and we began to get nervous that we weren’t on the right trail.

Kevin’s GPS didn’t match up with what the trail map had said, so we retraced our steps to the intersection. This time we continued the opposite direction through the intersection and kept left through the next three intersections. We then came to where we would have come out had we stuck with the creek-side trail, so it took us a little longer but at least we were sure of our trail. At this and the next intersection we kept right and came out on the dirt road we had parked on and were just a short walk from our car.

The entire hike was over 4 miles round trip with our short mishap.

• Cochran Shoals Trail
• Sope Creek Trail
• Atlanta Beltline Northside Trail

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Cheers!

Paige

Have you hiked the East Palisades Trail in Atlanta, Georgia? Let me know in the comments!