Hiking Pinhoti Trail

Hiking Pinhoti Trail is a perfect picture of northwest Georgia’s landscape!

On a Sunday in October, Jesse and I wanted to hike on a local trail. We are lucky enough to have parts of the Pinhoti National Recreation Trail running through our home county. The Pinhoti Trail is a 335-mile-long trail that runs from North Georgia to Alabama. Pinhoti means “the turkey’s home” in Creek. The Pinhoti’s trail markers are a turkey track. On this hike, we started at the Potts Hollow Trailhead, which is located in Cave Spring, Polk County, GA (just north of Cedartown).

The Potts Hollow Trailhead was just recently opened in August of 2023. The trail is freshly blazed. It has a great parking area with a brand-new picnic table, swing, and grill. When we visited, no one had used the grill yet! It is really nice to see such a well-cared for trail head.

Jesse and I were originally thinking that we were going to do a two-mile trek. Well, we were mistaken! Because the trail is so new, it is not on AllTrails. There also was not a map at the trailhead. So, when we parked, we saw a family walking off the trail and decided to start where they did. This was on the far right side of the parking lot. When we started on the trail, trees were marked with orange. Then, we came to a giant trail marker. The signs were different directions you could travel to go to all kinds of places, such as the Alabama line, the Alabama/Florida line, Flagg Mountain, Key West, Chattanooga, etc. We assumed that we were going on the Potts Hollow loop and took the trail that aligned with the Alabama/Georgia line sign. Shortly after this point, we were on the Pinhoti Trail.

We were expecting to walk on the Pinhoti trail, but we did not realize that we were not on the Potts Hollow loop.

We were expecting to walk on the Pinhoti trail, but we did not realize that we were not on the Potts Hollow loop trail. Pretty quickly, the 2-mile mark came up, then 2.5, and then 3. We then realized that we were not on a loop. We continued to follow the Pinhoti, which was blazed white. We ended up doing a giant loop. Around the 3.5 mile mark, we found a sign for the Potts Hollow loop. This trail was blazed red. We started following it and finally made it back to our car after 5.51 miles.

Thank goodness we were wearing our Columbia hiking boots to get us through this hike! Throughout the entire hike, we kept checking our phone GPS to confirm that we were moving in the right direction towards our car. When we made it back to the parking lot, we arrived at the far left side of the lot (near the entrance). Now we know that if you just want to do the loop, go down the trail at the left side that is blazed red.

Other than the long detour, this was a great hike! There is a lot of uphill, but it was bearable because of the cooler early October weather. This hike gives you a perfect picture of Northwest GA’s landscape. Red dirt, rolling hills, small mountains, pines, and an abundance of wildflowers and butterflies were all around us on this hike. I especially liked this hike because I love the smell of pine forest. While hiking, we spotted a lot of animal tracks and game trails. We also found an old deer leg and spine. Wildlife is definitely out there, so be on the lookout but also be cautious!

We did not see many people on this hike, but the parking lot did have a lot of cars. Half of the time we hiked we were walking on pine straw. The other half we were walking on an old dirt road that had been converted to trail. These old dirt roads are characteristic of the area. This hike was also dog friendly. We originally wanted to go on a walk with our dogs – our two pups did great on this long hike (we have a chihuahua and Pitbull).

Just 2.4 miles away from the trailhead is Rolater Park in the historic town Cave Spring. This park is amongst historic buildings from the 1800s. What is most interesting about this park is the spring and cave. For $2 a person, you can go inside the cave that is there. When we have visited, we have also seen people gathering water straight from the spring. If you are into that kind of thing, definitely make a side stop!

We were exhausted after this hike, but if you’ve been keeping up with us, you know that isn’t a good enough reason for us to skip out on a beer! There aren’t any breweries in Polk County, so we had to travel 25 minutes north to Rome and ended up at River Remedy Brewing.

Happy Trails,
Katie & Jesse

Tips for your trip:

• If you want to follow the Potts Hollow Loop, take the red trail.
• Potts Hollow is a great trail for dogs.
• Stay on the trail – the Pinhoti Trail is marked very clearly. If you are feeling lost, be sure to stay on the trail.
• We had service out on the trail, but that doesn’t mean you will. Make sure people are aware you are hiking and charge your phone!