Spring means perfect weather for hiking! This nearly-6 mile hike at Sweetwater Creek State Park has great views of the mill ruins and the Atlanta skyline.
If you love enjoying nature and catching city views, then the Yellow and Orange Trail hike at Sweetwater Creek State Park near Atlanta, Georgia is perfect for you! Enjoy some time outdoors with this breathtaking hike in one of Atlanta’s most beautiful nature parks.
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Sweetwater Creek State Park
Sweetwater Creek State Park in Lithia Springs, Georgia is home to 15 miles of hiking trails, camp sites, and a set for The Hunger Games movies. The ruins of the New Manchester Mill were used in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 as part of the ruins for District 13. The short and easy hike to this film set coupled with the park’s close proximity to Atlanta makes the state park a popular hiking destination.
We’ve previously hiked Sweetwater Creek State Park’s White and Red Trails, but this time we opted to hike the Yellow and newer Orange Trails.
Sweetwater Creek Yellow Trail Hike
The hike on the Yellow Trail starts at the Sweetwater Creek Interpretive Center. You really start on the Red Trail, but the access to the Yellow Trail isn’t too far down. In the spring, you can see the yellow marker through the trees from the beginning of the trail.
The Yellow Trail follows Sweetwater Creek upstream reaching a steel bridge at 0.65 miles. Across the bridge, the trail meets the Orange Trail, but instead of getting on that trail now, we continue following the Yellow Trail downstream. Where the trail forks, we continue straight, taking the loop counterclockwise, to the toughest part of the hike – but first, we take in a little scenery.
At about 1.2 miles, there is a small offshoot trail to the right that follows along the creek, through blooming pink and white mountain laurels, to a cross-creek view of the New Manchester Mill. On our cloudy hike, the mill ruins sat like a castle on a stormy shore.
The trail retraces back to the Yellow Trail and continues up, up, up through 350 feet of elevation. (Taking the trail clockwise is supposed to make this ascent much more gradual than our counterclockwise approach.) As we go up, there is a large rock overhang that the Native Americans used as shelter for thousands of years.
Once we’re finally up the hill, the Yellow Trail meets the “lollipop” loop of the Orange Trail at about 1.5 miles.
Sweetwater Creek Orange Trail Hike
The Orange Trail branches off to the right of the Yellow Trail, following south and counterclockwise for about 1.3 miles. The trail ambles through a lesser-used area of the forest. We even saw three deer leaping across the path further ahead of us. Just over three miles, the forest opens up, with much fewer trees overhead. The red dirt and young forest surrounding start to look more like South Georgia than North Georgia.
At the intersection of the Orange Trail’s lollipop stem and the rest of the loop, you can branch off to the right through the baby pine trees to catch a glimpse of the skyline through the trees.
Back on the trail, we continue left to finish off the last little bit of the Orange Trail loop and hop back on the Yellow Trail.
Back on the Yellow Trail
The Yellow Trail continues north and this time gradually descends the 350 feet. The hike down is obviously much more pleasant than the hike up.
The trail ends its loop at about 3.9 miles where we turn right and continue back the way we came over the bridge and this time downstream along the river.
Continuing back to the Interpretive Center would make this about a 4.5 mile hike, but instead of doing this, we decided to stop off to see the mill ruins up close and personal.
Bonus: Red Trail
To get to the Red Trail from the Yellow Trail, we just continued to follow the creek downstream at a fork. On the map, this fork is marked by a black trail connector. Once connected with the Red Trail, the hike continues for about 0.5 miles past the ruins of the mill town and the man-made channel to the New Manchester Mill. This 5-story mill was burned down by Union troops during the Civil War in 1864 and has stood as picturesque ruins ever since.
We sat by the ruins and ate a second lunch and rested a bit before hiking the 0.5 miles back to the Interpretive Center, ending our Sweetwater Creek hike at about 5.5 miles.
Hiking Essentials
Come prepared for your hike by making sure you pack the essentials. Check out this must-have hiking gear before you set off on the trails:
Nearby Hiking Trails
Looking for more hiking trails in Atlanta? Check out more of these amazing Georgia hikes:
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Cheers!
Paige
What’s your favorite Georgia hike? Let me know in the comments!
