Georgia Natural Wonder #143 - Blackjack & Sweat Mountains. 2,014

[Top Row Dawg]

Georgia Natural Wonder #143 - Blackjack & Sweat Mountains

In an effort to be complete on Cobb County, and as an extension to our Mountains to Classic South theme, we present the last two summits in Cobb County. There is not a lot of information on the Internet on these two Mountains, and I broke Quarantine to drive around Blackjack and hike Sweat Mountain twice in my continuing efforts to document this Forum with the true Natural Wonder experience of Georgia and hidden in plain sight Jewels of Georgia.


Sweat Mountain left, Blackjack Mountain right, as seen from Kennesaw Mountain.

Now there is no real Civil War history, and there is not a new town to do a tangent on so this should be short compared to recent post. Well I guess we could highlight East Cobb since there is not much Internet information on these two peaks, my kids all went to Lassiter.


Wilderness part of Sweat Mountain.

Turns out after my recent visits, there was plenty to see. I am concerned about a message too large as I have 153 images in my Imgur File.

Blackjack Mountain

Blackjack Mountain is a Summit in Cobb County, GA with an elevation of 1,371 feet, or 418 meters above sea level. This place is also known as Black Jack Mountain.


Blackjack Mountain (Cobb County, Georgia) from Kennesaw Mtn Drive.

Blackjack Mountain is one of the Summits in Cobb County, GA and can be found on the Sandy Springs USGS topographic quad map.


Panoramic view south from Rosemont City-view Apartments on Barnes Mill Road atop Blackjack Mountain.



It is west of Ashebrook and southeast of Blackwells. Blackjack Mountain  is nearby to The Pavilions at East Lake Shopping Center and East Lake Shopping Center. Turn on to Barnes Mill Road from Hwy. 120 (Roswell Road)


As seen from East Lake Shopping Center

I found these various comments on the Mountain.

One mile up. One mile down. She's a beast!!

I live on Blackjack Mountain and the view from our home is what made us buy our house

The highest point in Marietta with great view of Atlanta and Kennesaw mountain

On the mountain ridge see the rise on the right the little light spot?  The little light spot is a huge water tank.  Around the tank and the little dead dirt roads near it at the time, now mostly apartments  and subdivisions in the 1950s and 60s was well known as a "parking" area... if you get my drift... like a "cheap date"... get it?


View along Groover Road.

If you didn't yet get it let me put it this way:  If a Marietta native in their 50s was very good at tracing their roots they might find out they were conceived on top of that mountain.

That's all I could find with information or images from the Internet on Blackjack Mountain.

Top Row Dawg Addendum

The first thing I want to note is the Mountains proximity to the United Methodist Church Marietta Campground.



In 1837 the Marietta Camp Ground was established. It is located four miles from Marietta on the Roswell Road, on a tract of land containing forty acres.This land was bought for $40.



The tabernacle was built before the next camp meeting. The men came together, cut the oak trees, hewed the logs and the boards for the covering. The marks of the axes are still seen on the beams which still stand. The covering has been replaced.



The tenting was kept up each year by these families. As the older ones passed away, their children and grand-children continued the custom.



During the Civil War the camping was discontinued, but in 1870 the tenting was again resumed on the old campground, and during the following fifty years flourished.



Only the Recording Angel knows the many hundreds who, too, have been converted and received spiritual inspiration in attendance upon the services of old-fashioned songs and gospel messages brought four times each day, besides the sunrise and vesper meetings of groups held at the tents and out among the beautiful trees, in nature's great out-of-doors, close to the heart of God.



Although all meetings were marked by simplicity, there seemed to be a deep devotion and reverence that is often lost in formalities. The campground became a sacred place to all tenters; many would bring their children back to the historic spot to be christened.



Then Top Row Dawg knew from years living in this neighborhood there was a neat little drive up Groover Road.



It cuts through from Sewell Mill to Allgood Road.



For about a mile there it gets pretty woodsy, I am pretty sure this passes over a section of Blackjack Mountain.



Woodstream Blackjack Hills is a community of 186 homes. Many of our homes are located on wooded lots with creeks and waterfalls nearby, others have beautiful views of Kennesaw Mountain to the west, or a view of the Atlanta skyline and Stone Mountain to the south and southeast. I drove up on Pinnacle Point and found this house and yard at the top cul-de-sac.



It had a wonderful view back to the skyline around Perimeter Mall and Northside Hospital.



A zoom in shows Stone Mountain in this vista to the right in image.



Then I drove up Barnes Mill Road to the crest of the Mountain. There was a water Tower with trees blocking the view and "No Trespassing" Signs to spoil exploring.


These views going West off Mountain on Barnes Mill. .

Rosemont Apartments has this marvelous community area for residents only.



I wandered around anyway.



Look at this view of Atlanta and Buckhead.



I drove around a neighborhood on north side of peak and ended up on Soaring Drive for these images just driving.



Affordable houses for most of us.



Kennesaw and Little Kennesaw Mountains to the north.



That's all I got for Blackjack Mountain, over developed. The real feature of this post is Sweat Mountain.

Sweat Mountain

Sweat Mountain is a low mountain in far northeastern Cobb County, Georgia, in the suburbs north of Atlanta. The exact GNIS location of its summit is 34°4′1″N 84°27′20″W, and it has an official (USGS) elevation of 1,688 ft above mean sea level. It is the second-highest point in the core metro Atlanta area, behind Kennesaw Mountain, which is also in Cobb County. It is fifth if the exurban counties further north are considered.


As seen from Wigley Road.

This height has made the mountain very attractive for radio, having several transmitters, radio towers, and antennas, for pagers, cellphones, broadcasting, and amateur radio. The fact that Stone Mountain and Kennesaw Mountain are both protected as parks has led to a proliferation of technology at the top. At the same time, both the antenna farm and the densely packed houses detract from the view of the mountain from surrounding areas of northeast Cobb, south-southeast Cherokee (including much of Woodstock), and western Roswell.



Sweat Mountain is also a part of the ridge that divides the Chattahoochee River basin to the south and southeast, from the Lake Allatoona (Etowah River) basin to the north and northwest. From Sweat Mountain, this runs west-southwest through Cobb to Kennesaw Mountain and Lost Mountain.

History

At one time the entire mountain was owned by the Wigley family. Henry Clay Wigley continued to live at the base of the mountain for decades. Right across from his house was a gravel road that led to the summit. Years ago, before satellites took over, a U.S. Forest Service ranger would scale a giant fire tower to provide smoke coordinates for fire control every day. With suburbanization, this tower has been removed, but there is a benchmark set in concrete where one of the tower feet once rested. On the most northern side of the summit are natural rock formations, including a natural rock shelter that could house one or two campers.


Details in TRD Addendum later in post.

Wigley Road at one time went from Sandy Plains Road all the way through to Georgia 92, but it was closed in the 1970s due to poor maintenance. The main road now turns off from itself (makes a 90-degree turn) and continues generally west as Jamerson Road. Following the remaining Wigley Road to the dead end, there is a barrow pit just past the barricades. There was a place where natural springs created a huge swampy mudbog in the middle of the Wigley Road, which led to its closing.



In the early 1970s, a lake off Mountain Road at the base of the mountain served as the site for a huge music festival.



In early April 2006, the south side of the mountain was grazed by an F1 tornado, causing relatively minor damage to some homes. The storm moved due east from Noonday to Alpharetta, doing much more serious damage in several other places.



Broadcasters


Antennas on the summit

There are still five broadcast stations are all within 300 meters or 1000 feet of the summit, and are listed with call-sign, frequency or channel, community of license, and licensee/owner.



There was also a 50 kW transmitter on former TV channel 55 for MediaFLO, a pay TV service available on mobile TV. It was part of a single-frequency network across the metro area and nationally.



It was located 26 meters above ground level of approximately 1,620 feet, a separate tower from those listed for the other stations above.


TRD panoramic from wilderness portion of mountain.

A second transmitter on former channel 56 was used by Manifest Wireless. It was also an SFN, and used eight locations in metro Atlanta to transmit an ATSC signal. The signal from Sweat Mountain was active, but no service to the public was ever announced.

Developed portion of Mountain

Now all when I lived up near here, this is the only part of Sweat Mountain I knew.  The Highland Pointe Subdivision is where many of my son's football teammates lived. I drove up Highborne Drive many times to the dead end cul-de-sac just to see the view coming back down.



From the top coming back south is the skyline of Atlanta, like Emerald City of Oz between the trees.



You can see Atlanta and Buckhead as you come down almost a mile along the southern ridge with a view all the way until the very end.



Zoom in, homes for sale up here people.



Between the homes on both sides, you have views of 60 miles.





These homes were less than $300,000 back in the 1990's. Almost $700,000 now.



This view of Atlanta is a mile down from the top of the turn around. This street is truly a top residence for Atlanta area.



Great spot for fireworks viewing.



There is another neighborhood off Wigley Road called The Summit At Sweat Mountain.



One man's Hike of Sweat Mountain

Now one gut just walked up Summit Top Drive which you can easily drive.

You may not consider Atlanta to be a particularly mountainous place, but there are actually several large prominence's in the area that are termed “mountains.” Stone Mountain is most well known, and I’ve also hiked up Kennesaw Mountain, Sawnee Mountain, and Arabia Mountain, all in the area surrounding Atlanta. Today I drove over to Cobb County for the next chapter of my Atlanta mountain climbing adventures: Sweat Mountain!



I made a virtual visit with Google Street View beforehand, and it looked promising. The mountain is in a residential area, with a lot of radio and cell phone towers on the top. I parked on Wigley Road just past the place where Summitop Road begins.


Look at these drone images of this Summit Top Neighborhood.

I only hiked about 0.7 km one way up Summitop Road, but it was quite strenuous (and yes, I did sweat!). I marched past lots of fancy houses, finally reaching a turnaround with another road leading off from it. Unfortunately, once I reached that point, I was greeted by a sign stating unequivocally “No Trespassing,” “Private Property,” “Private Road.” According to the satellite photos, this private road is the only road that leads to the top of the mountain, but being a law-abiding citizen, I decided not to proceed.


This is the 3.2 Million dollar house at the top.

Even though I couldn’t go all the way to the top, there was a decent view as I went back down, and I even spotted a little conical mountain that seemed to be located to the southwest. Looking at the map now, it looks like it may have been one end of Kennesaw Mountain that I was seeing, or maybe it was Blackjack Mountain, a peak hitherto unknown to me! That may be my next mountain climbing destination.


Blackjack Mountain to left.

So if you are contemplating a trip to Sweat Mountain, I would recommend it if you live nearby. It is a nice little hike with good views. Just keep in mind that you cannot go all the way to the top, unless you want to face prosecution for criminal trespassing!



Yes You Can Hike Sweat Mountain

On page four of my Google search I found this.

Actually there is a way to hike to the top of Sweat Mtn. You drive down Wigley Road until it ends and then just bushwhack a bit and then there’s actually a trail of sorts that you will hit that takes the ridge to the summit. It is only about .7 mi one way, although the summit is fenced in with radio towers, so you can’t get to that part. However, there are some nice overlooks almost at the top and it’s a cool area to explore.


That got me excited and look where it led.

I’m not sure if it is technically trespassing or not, but there are no signs you hit on the way up on that route. The GPS track.



TRD Addendum.

Now I followed that last guys directions and bushwhacked like he said and it sucked. IT SUCKED! For 400 yards I bushwhacked but the destination was worth it. I found the old dirt road, and followed that up to the adventure then down the dirt road the first day because I did not want to bushwhack again down. Big mistake because I ended up 7 miles from my truck and wore myself out walking back to truck. My daughter got all jealous when I Face-booked her some pictures and she talked me into coming back out a second straight day. Now I saw a You Tube where this fellow went up a trail in the Highland Pointe Neighborhood. I asked some folks and they said it went to the top. So off we went on an easier hike to the top.



Nice little trail.



It did not go to the top of the mountain though.



A freaking hour wasted, and all that energy. So I went back to the drawing board redid the bushwhack from the day before.



Now you come up Wigley Road from Sandy Plains Road and right where it turns into Jameson, Old Wigley goes to the right toward the mountain. It dead-ends at a gate with a padlock and two "No Dumping" signs. There was no "No Trespassing" signs so I parked the truck at the side of the road and went around the gate.  I walked about 300 yards to a big pile of tires as the pavement ended. I shimmied up the steep 40 degree slope to these rock formations.



Rocks this low a good sign.



Faint goat path at times.



More picturesque the next day with daughter and her friend/son along.


These rocks were about 100 yards up.

Then it got super thick with Piney Brush.



Did I mention how much this part of hike sucked.



Absolutely no trail of any sort. 300 yards in I was ready to quit.



Then it thinned out and I reached the first peak.



Some vistas both ways at this first peak. Allatoona Mountains in distance.



And it was really a peak as it went down 360 degrees all around.



Then you follow the greatly eroded dirt road up to a pretty good camp spot. Big enough for 10 tents.



Great views from camp spot.



Moss everywhere.



More moss.



From the camp spot you continue up the rocky ridge toward the antenna laden summit.







This is the trip.



I got carried away.



Screen Savers.



Photo after photo, exclusive to the HOTD, this rocky ridge of Sweat Mountain.



I guess technically, this is the east side of the ridge.



Wonderful rocky ridge of wilderness section of Sweat Mountain.



You are walking right on the ridge.



On the West side of the ridge are the better views and rock formations.



Pretty good cliffs even.



Somebody built a fire on the cliff edge. Kennesaw Mountain in distance.



Lot of dead wood for a fire.



Scampered down to photograph rock formations.







Blooming flowers on the rocks.



More fun when your with others.



Especially pretty young women.



I carried a back pack with a gallon of water, 4 oranges and apples. Granola bars, binoculars, two Power-aides, and three Jersey Mike Subs.



Beautiful views with smoking hot GNW Gals.





The wilderness portion of peak turns to the Antenna Complex.



Camden has found energy to lead us home.



Now the second day I came with the girls, we went around the antenna fence and a gate door was open. We walked through the complex being careful not to trespass in the separate fences. We walked back down the paved road and did not see a "No Trespassing" sign from our direction of travel, all down hill. Anyway it sure was easier than the seven mile hike the day before. That dirt road ended up on private property that way too, so really the only way to do this without fear of police, is to bushwhack up and bushwhack down from Wigley.

Sweat Mountain panorama.



OK we have covered Cobb County pretty extensively. We still need to cover Mableton, Austell, and Powder Springs. We will travel to Powder Springs for a Natural Wonder down the road. There is the Maxham House and the Sweetwater Town Site. I remember a mountain top view off Pebblebrook west of Ashebrook and southeast of Blackwells Road and just off Bankhead Highway (Veterans Parkway) back when I was a Medical Transport driver. Can't find anything on Internet. There is some high ground on this part of County as evidenced from that spectacular view of Atlanta coming east on I-20 by Six Flags coming in from Alabama.

There are 10 summits in Cobb County and we covered them all.

Mountain                           Approx. Elevation     

Blackjack Mountain   1,371 ft                   
GNW #143
Brushy Mountain                1,217 ft                   
GNW #136
Cheatham Hill                   1,122 ft                   
GNW #138
Kennesaw Mountain   1,781 ft                   
GNW #133 (Part 1)
Little Kennesaw Mountain  1,601 ft                   
GNW #131
Lost Mountain           1,516 ft                   
GNW #134
Mount Wilkinson             981 ft                   
GNW #141
Pigeon Hill                   1,243 ft                   
GNW #131
Pine Mountain           1,309 ft                   
GNW #135
Sweat Mountain           1,640 ft                   
GNW #143

As I sit here at my computer, I can look at my right window past Midtown.



And just between buildings, you can see Sweat Mountain when it's clear enough.



Our GNW Gals today are sweating it out on Sweat Mountain.