Fort Mountain, GA

Hey – have you ever heard of the Moon Eyed people? No? Come on – join us in our search on fort Mountain in Georgia. Maybe we’ll come across something exciting!

Before we could begin our adventures following the legend of the Moon Eyed people, we needed to set up our campsite. Our site was at a beautiful spot next to a small lake. Since it was really late in the season, we were pretty much alone! After we had everything in place, we went for a walk around the lake – can you see the little TAB on the other side? So lonely! The rangers warned us that it is still bear season, so we were on the lookout most of the time in the hopes of seeing one – which we didn’t.

After a good night of sleep, we were up early and ready to go exploring! First we had a look around the lake again and through the campgrounds. The site is really nice and from the amount of spaces available, and all the playgrounds and shelters, I think this place is probably really busy during the summer months. There are kayaks that can be rented for paddling around the lake and there is a special area roped off for swimming. I’m not so sure if I would actually want to swim here though, considering Gottfried saw a snake in the water.

So now it was time to head off to the historic sites on the mountain. My personal main target was to visit the prehistoric wall. The wall is on the southeast side of Fort Mountain and you need to walk a little bit to get there. The true purpose of the wall has not yet been discovered, and nobody is really sure about who built it. But, according to the legend of the Cherokees who lived here long ago, fair-skinned people with big blue eyes lived here. Apparently they were very sensitive to light and lived in caves, only coming out when the sun had set. While some stories say that these were Welsh explorers, this has not been confirmed. Either way, this is a fascinating site that is worth visiting.

Apart from visiting the wall, there are two lookout points on top of the mountain. The first one is also on the southeast side and offers some gorgeous views. From all of these points there are trails to hike in all directions and there are some scary rocks to climb on. When walking up to the west lookout, you will come across a fork in the trail. The left goes to the lookout while the right is a shortcut to the fire tower. The west view lookout is further to walk but is worth the effort. There is a platform with absolutely breathtaking views. The only thing that was a little challenging for us here was that the stairs have metal grids, which the dogs are totally afraid of. We ended up carrying them over the stairs. And as you all have seen, they aren’t exactly skinny! Still worth the effort though!

After enjoying the west lookout, we headed up to the fire tower. I understand that it has been rebuilt a few times. I would have loved to go to the top, but unfortunately it was closed off. We then headed back to base camp for some hearty lunch. We made some lentil stew from scratch and added some Italian sausage. That was awesome!

Satisfied from lunch, we headed out again on a different exploration. This time we hiked the gold mine creek trail, which is on the left of the campground lake. It was more adventurous than expected! It started out rather harmless with a casual stroll through a poplar forest, but that changed quickly! We first found ourselves crossing a small stream – which Brandy – that’s the white dog – didn’t really find amusing. She hates water! Whisky doesn’t care, she will do just about anything. The trail got narrower, the stream got wider, the bushes got thicker, and everything just got more and more beautiful! Still on the lookout for a bear, still with no luck. We eventually circled back on the ridge to return back to our camp.

After a long day of exploring we enjoyed a nice glass of wine for me and a glass of whisky for Gottfried. Cheers everyone! We hoped you enjoyed our video and look forward to sharing our next adventure with you!

https://gastateparks.org/FortMountain