Ranking the Trails

Each trail that appears on the GeorgiaTrails.com site has been walked by your Trail Hosts, Randy and Pam Golden.

Trail length is the total length of the trail in miles. This comes from our brand new GPS measuring system on trails updated since 10/99. On trails prior to that the distance comes from a good guess on our part or local material that contains this information.

Location is derived from the DeLorme Mapping System that is integrated with our new GPS. The counties that the trail runs through are listed and a link is provided to additional information about the county including history, events, links, interesting things to do, battles that occurred in the county and state parks, if any.

The Features column includes notable features of the trail. This can include, but is not limited to, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, camping, Appalachian Trail access, picnicking, Visitor's Center, fishing or scenic.

The last hiked date is extremely important to note. Some of these trails have not been updated in three or four years, and in that period of time the information about them can become outdated.

Type of Trail--there are essentially three types of trails, Loop, Point-to-Point and In and out. A loop trail brings you back to the place you start without walking on the same path. A point-to-point trail is designed to be walked from one place to another, and is too long to return to the starting point. An in and out trail takes you in, then returns you to the place you started.

Our rating-this is our completely arbitrary rating of the trail. We are experienced hikers who have been doing this for nearly 20 years. An easy trail will never require us to stop. The grade can be steep or moderate for a short periods of time, but never requires us to stop. Moderate trails require occasional stops for rest. Difficult trails may require a stop every quarter-mile. Strenuous trails require more than four stops a mile. Trails may vary in difficulty. Frequently if there is an area that is more difficult than the trail as a whole, it will be mentioned in the text. If you are new to hiking, figure our easy is more like a moderate.

Your rating--this is were you get a shot at rating the trail. Your figure is taken and averaged in with the rating of the other people who have hiked the trail and an average rating appears. The number of people to rate the trail appears in parenthesis next to the rating.

Date added--gives you an idea of how long we have been hiking this trail.

Trail Usage--an overall rating reflecting the average use of the trail. This will not include nearby events that may boost a moderate usage trail to a heavy usage for a brief period of time. If you decide to go to Andrews Cove during the Helen-to-the-Atlantic hot balloon race, its going to be a heavy and not a moderate.