Anthony Lampros photo
Black Rock Mountain State Park
A glaze of frozen rain and a light dusting of snow covers trees and roadways in Black Rock Mountain’s summit day-use area.
Hard as it might be to imagine, North Georgia’s Blue Ridge mountains once shot up five to 10 miles in the sky, dwarfing today’s Himalayas or the Rocky Mountains of Western U.S. They are some of the oldest mountains on earth, formed by volatile volcanoes that spewed out liquid rock that eventually cooled into glassy black sheets known as biotite gneiss.
It’s the same type of rock found in the lava of Mt. Vesuvius in Italy. The dark-colored rock lends its name to Black Rock Mountain State Park, a rolling forested wilderness that is home to Georgia’s highest average elevations for a state park. The peaks eroded over time the highest now stand around 3,600 feet tall but the views can still be spectacular with 11 miles of hiking trails and plenty of rich flora and fauna.
Established in 1952 and later expanded to include about 1,700 acres, the park straddles the Eastern Continental Divide in Rabun County and is located just off U.S. 441 near the border between North Carolina and Georgia. An easy day-drive from nearby cities, Black Rock Mountain State Park is approximately 90 miles from Atlanta, 20 miles from Franklin, N.C., and 80 miles from Gatlinburg, Tenn.
The park’s 17-acre lake beckons fishing enthusiasts with bass, bream, catfish, perch, and trout, while hikers can take their pick of lush woods, waterfalls, and ridge views of pristine beauty. Wild flame azaleas. Thickets of mountain laurel. Rosebay rhododendron. Ramps, the pungent cousins of onions. Wildflowers in spring and summer, brilliant leaf colors in fall, and crystal snowscapes in winter.
The park offers a variety of camping choices: 12 walk-in sites ($12 each), four backcountry sites ($5 each), two picnic shelters ($30), a pioneer group campground ($100), 10 cottages ($110-$130), and 48 sites for tents, trailers, or recreational vehicles ($25).
Due to a lengthy drought over the past two years, the park’s water supply has been extremely limited. Campers need to bring their own water to flush toilets or take showers. Cottage guests are asked to conserve water by bringing their own drinking water, limiting bathroom flushes, and skipping showers. The cottages are located in the southwest corner of the park just below the area’s signature peak, Black Rock Mountain (3,640 ft.).
Other notable peaks within the park include Marsen Knob (3,205 ft.), Lookoff Mountain (3,162 ft.), and Boundary Point Knob (3,010 ft.). The 7.2-mile James Edwards Trail (named after one of the park’s long-serving rangers) takes you past Black Rock Lake. The shorter 2.2-mile Tennessee Rock Trail crosses over Black Rock Mountain’s northern slope, where you can see the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Tennessee’s highest peak, Clingmans Dome, far in the distance. In fact, on clear days, hikers can climb to the park’s tallest peaks to peer into South Carolina as well — four states in a single view.
The park is open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, with office hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pets are allowed, but only on a leash. ATVs and treasure hunting electronic devices are strictly prohibited. And, as with all state and national parks, guests are asked not to transport or take out of the park any plants, artifacts, wildflowers, or other flora or fauna.
For more information, call the park at 706-746-2141 or to make a reservation, call 800-864-7275. Drive 3 miles north of Clayton, Ga. (or south from Franklin, N.C.) on U.S. 441, and turn west at Mountain City on Black Rock Mountain Parkway and follow this for about 7 miles to enter the park.