Georgia Natural Wonder #14 - Mt. Yonah. 886

[Top Row Dawg]

Georgia Natural Wonder #14 - Mt. Yonah

Yonah Mountain (commonly referred to as "Mount Yonah" or, by older Georgians, "Yonah Bald") is a mountain ridge located in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest in Georgia, United States. Yonah rises from the foothills of Georgia’s southern Appalachian Mountains, jutting skyward from the rolling landscape between Cleveland and Helen. Yonah is the Cherokee word for Bear.



With incredible views, steep drop-offs, and a moderately challenging but ultra-scenic climb to the summit, the Yonah Mountain Trail delivers one of North Georgia’s best and most popular hikes. The mountain’s asymmetrical, iconic shape and massive, exposed rock outcrops near the summit lend to its popularity with hikers and climbers.


Feeder bands from hurricane Katrina rolling in with my kids.

Yonah Mountain is the site of a Native American legend about a beautiful Cherokee maiden named Nacoochee who fell in love with the Chickasaw warrior Sautee. When their love was forbidden by the tribal elders, a war party followed the eloping lovers and threw Sautee off the mountain, with Nacoochee then jumping to her death, a Lover's Leap. Although he did not invent the legend, George Williams, the son of one of the original white settlers, popularized it in his 1871 Sketches of Travel in the Old and New World.


TRD sits where Nacoochee jumped? Earlier visit sunny day.

When local developers fenced off the existing roads to the mountain top, some kind soul bought and donated some land and created parking and a nice hiking trail back to the public lands on top. Going north on hwy 75 out of Cleveland GA towards Helen GA turn right at 2nd intersection of Tom Bell Road. Western Sizzlin is on the corner. (Tom Bell Road forms a loop with Hwy 75). Turn left onto Chambers Road. Turn left at the yellow and brown Mount Yonah Trailhead sign. Follow gravel road to parking lot.



There is a signed trailhead from Chambers Road and an approximately 2.3 mile trail (gaining 1500 feet in elevation) leads to the summit. I have never been on the new trail they have built. I did the 4 mile walk up the dirt road. It’s a moderately strenuous hike, with a continuous, unrelenting upward climb to the summit and a few scrambles over boulders. The trail stays below moderate tree coverage until around the halfway point where you will come upon a clearing known as the first LZ (landing zone). There are three clearings overall.



Next you will arrive at the main campground still under the treeline, complete with bathrooms. To get to the main summit you will continue past the campground. The trail opens up onto the mountain's massive rock face, spanning the whole western side. You can stop here or continue to the second LZ. This LZ is much larger and a perfect camping spot. There is a grassy field for helicopter landing at the top also.



The views from the summit are simply stunning.



At the summit, far-flung vistas extend in broad panoramas to the horizon, catching incredible views from multiple rocky, steep outcrops.



Once you get there, spend awhile there! We took about thirty minutes just to explore the cliffs and sit on top of the world for a little while.



Pretty good hike, though I have not been up the new trail.



The 5th Ranger Training Battalion, Ranger Training Brigade of the United States Army conducts the Mountain Phase of Ranger School on Yonah Mountain. Sometimes your hike might be disturbed by UH-60s or Cobra and Apache helicopter.



Mountain Phase is where the most good Ranger candidates get hurt or recycled. Sleep deprivation and hunger have begun taking a toll, physically and emotionally. Injuries happen where they wouldn’t have otherwise as you keep pushing yourself beyond the limits with which you’re comfortable.



It has been a popular training ground for rock climbers.



Quality rock and large selection of climbs make this area one of the most popular around. If climbing, you will take the trail to "The Lowers" from the main campsite or the lower LZ. There are lots of routes on The Lowers, but if you want to climb with a view you can repel or climb the main face.



Follow trail up from the parking area until it crosses a road. Pass the "X Wall" and traverse a fourth-class slab to the base of the main wall.



OK, this is a cool place and all, but please be serious when visiting......



Years ago I read how a boy scout fell repelling, right in front of his den leader dad.

In the early 2000’s, a teenager slipped and fell along the Mount Yonah Hiking Trail, plummeting over 600-feet to her death.

The next fatal accident reported on the mountain occurred in 2008 when a 18-year-old woman from Sautee fell to her death after slipping.

A 43-year-old Braselton man died on Mother’s Day 2015 after a 100 foot fall from the face of Mt. Yonah. He split from his family, instead of hiking around to the top, and attempted to free solo the face and fell from near the top. Was alive, but combative, when first responders arrived...refusing treatment...and died on scene. His family witnessed the whole thing.

In April 2016, a Gainesville woman was found dead after falling, the White County Sheriff’s Office said.



Bad dad putting my son out there.



Today's GNW right on the edge of Mount Yonah with her little dog at sunset.



Woo...Bonus GNW gal upon image reset.



14th Natural Wonder of Georgia. OK I am going to regroup and evaluate where to go from here. Found 76 spots worth a mention as far as Natural Wonders. Pretty obvious where to go next. Other side of State. Revolutionary War history.