Fort Mountain State Park

Stayed 5 nights at site 62. Lake view was awesome as it’s winter and leaves are almost all gone. Trails were amazing, saw a lot of creeks and mini waterfalls. The rock wall was cool as with the tower also. Saw a juvenile black bear sleeping in a tree on the big rock trail. Road to the park is kinda steep but nothing crazy. Take your time there are a few pull over spots to allow traffic to pass if needed. Campground was pretty empty while we were there. Only about 10 other campers around.

One of our favorite Georgia State Parks! Accessible hiking trails from the both Campgrounds. Really nice trail around the lake with spots for fishing. Gravel sites with great tree cover but not all level. Our site was spacious, pull-thru, and on the lake side. The weather was cool enough to have the windows open the whole time. The WeBoost help give signal otherwise there was none.

Beautiful Park - clean, quiet with plenty to do (hiking; fishing, mountain biking, putt-putt, boating, etc.). We were in the right hand loop campground (campsites 1-23) in campsite 22. Keeping in mind we prefer boondocking, even though the sites were reasonably spaced, there was absolutely no privacy in our site. Driving the loop about three times our observation was that none of the other sites had any level of privacy (except site 8). Everything else in the park was excellent and only the lack of privacy make us rate this as a 3. If you have young children this park would be perfect and would highly recommend it.

There seem to be lots of reviews that focus on the drive up. I thought it was great. GA2 (i think) is the road leading up to the park. There are a couple of turns on the way up where you only see horizon and road, but it is a great/easy drive. The road is wide and smooth and if you have enough truck for your trailer then you have absolutely nothing to worry about. The roads inside the campground are a little tight, but nothing too hard.

- The sites are clean and level
- Hiking and mountain biking readily available and the trails are great
- Check in was easy. One note - there was no guard at the entrance so we took a left instead of going straight to check in. No bueno. Stay to the right for checkin and you wont have to do a lap of the grounds like we did
- Very quiet and as more dogs than kids, which we always like

This was an absolutely beautiful area. I will be sure to go back again. The only hesitation I will tell you to have is about the steep grade you have to go up and down to get there. Be very Careful as it is pretty steep and curvy without a shoulder on much of the road. This North Georgia Mountains area is very beautiful especially now in the fall. It's the perfect place to bring your RV whether it's a class a, fifth wheel, or travel trailer. Be careful about a lot of those pull through sites though because some are great and straight (48) but a lot of them are pretty sharp turns to get in and out. There is a great beach there that looks like it is a lot of fun in the summer time, but I love me some cool weather camping!

Site Specific details-
46-51 are on the water, but some of those have a decently flat parking pad but an incline going down to the parking pad.

Good Sites in my opinion- 10,11,15,47,49,50,51,61,63

Avoid sites - 2,7,33,39,44,45,62

We were in AWE with the fall colors when we arrived. We had the best site in there somewhat private, and easy to get into it, with the lake behind you. It's a small walk down to the lake if you have a Kayak or Canoe it's a good place to keep it . There's some nice hikes from the campground, one around the lake & then across the street there's a hike to a small waterfall.
There are several towns around Ellijay & Chatsworth if you need anything you can get it close by.

Coming into the loop we were in it's a small road with a few tight turns but not a problem. The Stone Tower & Stone wall are close, a little hike to get to them but worth the view at the end. The wall is a mystery who built it, the Cherokees, the moon eyed people, or who?

There is an overlook outside the park a mile up the road great place to watch the sunset. You can get cell service there.
Nice park with lots to do.

Up, up, and away! This park is WAY up in altitude for us. I know it's nothing like Colorado, but for Georgia it's getting up there. Sightseeing out the passenger window on the way to the park isn't exactly relaxing due to the sheer drop-offs along the road's edge, but the views are spectacular. We had gorgeous weather with cool breezes. Blue skies and white puffy clouds floated along Friday and Saturday.

In this park there are two loops for camping. We took Site #45 on the Lakeside Camping Loop by Fort Mountain Lake. Our camp host came by and told us we had picked a spot that was supposed to be for tent campers only, but he also said he'd probably not enforce it. However, the Rangers might, so he thought we should go back to the office to see if they might be merciful and give us a red name tag to signify we had the ok to remain.  Live and learn.  There are white and red tags on the site numbers for a reason so don't make the same newbie mistake we did when you camp. Long story short, I am very happy to say that the staff allowed us to stay.  PHEW.  No one wants to move after a trailer is removed from their truck, everything has been set up inside, and they are sitting down to lunch they cooked on their newly started campfire.

The lake is around 2,650 feet above sea level. Spring certainly had sprung. There were many different shades of green leaves and delicate pastel-colored flowers sprinkled about. Many hikers were out. The path around the lake was clearly marked and offered perfect fishing areas and benches for resting and taking in the views. We carried our dog over some sharper gravelled areas, but it would not be a huge issue for dogs with tougher pads. There is a lake beach with sand, kayaks and paddle boats for rental, putt-putt up the hill from the pavilion, and playgrounds with potty access. Seems like a nice place to meet with friends or family for a reunion because of all the different things you could do while visiting. Apparently, if you are a first-time camper and let the office know, you can get help setting up a loaner tent and they can help you put it away, too.

Our college kids came by on Saturday.  We all drove about 30 minutes away to the Sumac WMA Shooting Range.  There was plenty of room to spread the weapons out and shoot at our targets with the other marksmen. It was a great time and worth the drive.  We noticed that in the parking lot there weren't any foreign-made cars...GMC, Chevy, Jeep, and Fords.  Is gun ownership and those using ranges THAT tied to people who buy American vehicles? Hmmmmm...

After our kids left for home, we drove up the road and hiked to the mysterious rocky ruins and CCC Stone Tower.  It was more strenuous than I thought it would be to get up all of those stone stairs. Once we made it to the ruins we really could not gauge from the "You Are Here" map just how much farther it actually would be to get to the Tower. Fortunately, we continued on and it was not much farther at all.

The history was pretty interesting.  There are many theories about who built the short, zig-zagging stone wall along the Cohutta Mountain Range. Some think there were ancient European settlers that couldn't come out in the daytime because of their pale eyes ("Moon Eyes") who built the wall to protect themselves from the Cherokees. Some say they were protecting themselves from the Creeks. Some say it was Spanish conquistadors who used it to protect themselves from Indian attacks. Others say Indians were fighting other Indians and it was one of their fortifications.  Still others think it could have been a special area for Indian honeymooners.  The legends go on and on.

As for the Tower, it was originally built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934-1935 to be used as a way to observe the forest and watch out for forest fires. You can see 40 miles from it on a clear day. It was restored in 2014. There is a sweet story about a stone that was hewn into a heart and placed in the east side of the tower by a 20 year old stone mason who worked on the original structure. He did it because he was sweet on a 16 year old girl and wanted her to know it.  They married in 1935 and had a happy and long marriage.

On our way back from the Tower, I looked out into the forest while my hubby was driving, and way down a ravine I saw a black bear! There were signs posted all over the park that stated bears were nearby so all garbage needed to be placed in special "bear proof" bins, but I never thought I'd actually see one. I was so excited...especially because it was not close enough to take a bite out of me. We stopped where we could pull over and ran back to where I saw him.  I was able to take a picture. Needless to say, I had to buy the black bear pillow and magnet at the Trading Post on the way out.

The rain came that night. I love the sound of rain on a camper at night when everyone is safely inside and everything is put away nice and tight. Magical. It persisted through Sunday morning so we had a soggy departure, but it was fine. A perfect trip has nothing to do with everything going perfectly.  It's about seeing the perfection in the ordinary and taking your time to be thankful for it all.

Fort Mountain State Park
181 Fort Mountain Park Rd
Chatsworth, Georgia 30705
Phone: (706) 422-1932
Sites: 70
Recent Rate: $30 5/2017