Gold Branch Loop Hike
Length: 3.8-mile loop
Time: 2.5 hours
Difficulty: Moderate
Download the Gold-Branch-Trail-Map (PDF)
The information panel at the Gold Branch parking lot claims that there are more than seven miles of trails in the unit, which may be so if you hike every trail. A large loop is possible, but there are many shortcut trails that zigzag back and forth, which is undoubtedly how the “seven miles of trails” is derived. Some of the trails, especially those at the southern end of the unit, are challenging, not only stamina-wise, but technically. Narrow and rocky, it would be easy to twist or break an ankle, so hike with caution on the rougher trail areas. Even the easier sections of the trails are often very “rooty,” which can lead to stumbles and falls. The Gold Branch trails are without a doubt the toughest in Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. Hiking boots and poles are highly recommended.
Roots often carpet the trails in the Gold Branch Unit of Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area
My Gold Branch Loop Hike starts at the parking lot and follows the outermost trails in the clockwise direction. A short trail from the parking lot leads to the start of the loop at intersection GB 2 (reference the above trail map). After .15 mile, you will cross a foot bridge and come to a fork in the trail. If you look straight ahead to the top of the hill in front of you, you will see the GB 2 trail map stand. While you can take a left or right at the fork, a left is the shortest way to the next destination, GB 6. All taking a right does is circle you around to the top of the hill so that you can study the trail map.
From GB 6 to GB 7 you will be hiking right along an inland marsh created when the Chattahoochee River was dammed at Morgan Falls a little further down. Called Bull Sluice Lake, this wider than normal section of water is simply a backed-up Chattahoochee River.
GB 7 marks the northern most tip of the park. You can’t miss this area, for the trail will widen, the trees blocking the view of the water will part, and you will see the closest thing to a “lake” as you will find in the area. Prior to this you are in a narrow cove, so you can’t mistake the opening up of the water.
From GB 7, take the trail that follows closest to the river towards GB 8. The trail gets quite narrow and slants at a fairly steep angle towards the river, so it is easy to lose your balance—hike with care. The trail follows the marshes of Bull Sluice Lake until about a half mile past GB 12. At GB 8 and 9, if in doubt as to which way to go, take the route that follows the water, which will always be the routes to your left.
Trail in the Gold Branch Unit along Bull Sluice Lake slopes steeply towards the water, Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area
There are some very interesting landscapes on the way to the GB 12 intersection, including some marshy sections with clumps of plants that look like somebody went out in the mud and planted them in the ground. I have no idea what these plants are.
Interesting landscapes along Bull Sluice Lake in the Gold Branch Unit of Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area
There is also a rocky area of the trail that is so dangerous that you begin to doubt that this could actually be the trail. Hiking poles would be a great help, otherwise you need to step carefully and grab onto any nearby trees or shrubs to keep you balance. I went halfway and turned around, figuring I must have missed a turnoff somewhere. I did not. This is the trail. Fortunately, once you get past this rock strewn section the terrain returns to normal, though there are a few more tough hills awaiting you.
Difficult terrain on the trails at the southern end of the Gold Branch Unit of Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area
There is a bit of history on the trail. Once heading inland, and before the next intersection, be on the lookout to your left for an old, rusty and shot-up car. This is located 2.8 miles into the hike. When you spot it your immediate thought will be, “How in the world did this get here?” It is smack dab in the middle of the forest. Coming upon the car was like stumbling upon some Aztec ruin that had been consumed by nature.
Per a laminated photo attached to the car, this is a 1963 Mercury Comet. If you think about it, fifty years ago this probably wasn’t a forest at all. The main trail near the car is fairly wide—wide enough to drive a car. The trees and brush closest to the trail are much younger than those in the surrounding forest. My bet is that this trail was once a dirt road that led down to the river. Some good ol’ boys must have driven down here, turned off the main road, and dumped the car. Fifty years later, all of this is now forest.
My grandparents had a house on Oneida Lake near Syracuse, New York, which they built when my mother was young. To get to the house you took a dirt road through the forest and down to the lake shore. At least that’s the way it was when I was a kid back in the 1970s. But when my mother was young, some twenty years earlier, the whole area was a farm; not a tree in site. In twenty five years the area went from a treeless farm to a forest as thick as the one you will find yourself in where this old car is. A forest can grow up rapidly.
From the old car it is a one-mile, straightforward hike to the parking lot: GB 11 to GB 10 to GB 3 to GB 2, and back to the parking lot. Gold Branch is the toughest hike in the park, and the fact that the surrounding ecosystem is different than the rest of the park makes this unit well worth the visit. And if you like old stuff like I do, the old car is a huge bonus.
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Last updated on May 10, 2024