Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests

73 camps mapped · 44 free · 28 fee · 1 unpriced · tap a dot for its page

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Camp here — Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests

73 camps mapped in this forest, 44 of them free. Tap one for its topo and aerial, the weather, the water, and how far you will be from fuel and a shower.

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Where dispersed camping is listed — Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests

The Forest Service lists dispersed camping as an activity at these 5 places. That is the agency saying it is allowed somewhere in the area — not a campsite we have mapped, and not a spot we can put a pin on. Read their page, then check the district for the rules that apply on the day.

Ball Field Dispersed Camping Area
A large grassy field located approximately 1 mile from Lake Conasauga Recreation area. Primitive camping--no amenities. Campers may utilitize Lake Conasauga recreation opportunities by parking in the picnic area parking lot,…
the Forest Service page for it →
Blue Ridge Ranger District
The Blue Ridge Ranger District is the central part of the Chattahoochee National Forest. The district office is on the north side of US Highway 76, 1.5 miles west of the intersection of US 76 and US 19 in the town of…
the Forest Service page for it →
Chattooga River District
The Chattooga River Ranger District covers 261,035 acres in the northeast part of Georgia. Terrain ranges from the Piedmont in the southern part of the district to Georgia's second highest mountain, Rabun Bald at 4,696 feet above…
the Forest Service page for it →
Ellicott Rock Wilderness
Ellicott Rock Wilderness is located at the intersection of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, with approximately 3,400 acres of 8,300 acres. The National Wild and Scenic River, Chattooga Rivers crosses the wilderness…
the Forest Service page for it →
Oconee Ranger District
Approximately 60 miles southeast of Atlanta, the Oconee National Forest is an easy drive and has much to offer those in the heart of the state. Boasting group campsites and recreational opportunities galore, the Oconee District…
the Forest Service page for it →

Where the camps cluster

The place

The Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests are two very different Georgia forests managed together from a single supervisor's office in Gainesville. The broad boundary drawn on the map is large, but the actual national-forest land inside it is closer to 867,000 acres, most of it up in the Chattahoochee. That northern forest is the mountain half -- the southern tail of the Blue Ridge and the rugged Cohutta country, full of cold trout streams, laurel thickets, and waterfalls, climbing to the highest point in the state. The Oconee is the other half, an hour or two south in the rolling Piedmont: quieter pine and hardwood woods on old, tired farmland that the federal government bought and reforested in the last century. One unit, two worlds -- mountain hollows in the north, red-clay pine country in the middle of the state.

History

The two forests came together in different eras and for different reasons. The Chattahoochee was formally established in 1936, assembled out of the cut-over and badly eroded mountain land of north Georgia -- some of the earliest federal tracts here had even been managed as part of the neighboring Cherokee National Forest before Georgia got a forest of its own. Long before any of that, these mountains were the heart of the Cherokee homeland; the name Chattahoochee itself comes from the Muscogee (Creek) language and is usually translated as 'painted' or 'marked rocks,' for the colored stones along the river. The Oconee, down in the Piedmont, was proclaimed later, in 1959, on farmland that generations of cotton had worn out and gullied -- the government bought the exhausted fields and let the forest return, part of the same broad effort (opened up by the Weeks Act of 1911, which first let the government buy eastern forestland) that put the woods back across the worn-out South. A local legend of the mountain half is ranger Arthur Woody, the 'barefoot ranger,' long remembered for personally helping bring the deer herd back to these mountains after hunting had nearly wiped it out, and for restocking the streams with trout.

Wildlife & plants

This is black-bear country, especially up in the Chattahoochee mountains, where the southern Appalachian bears roam the hollows -- keep a clean camp and put your food away. White-tailed deer and wild turkey are common across both forests, and the mountain deer herd is itself a comeback story. The cold, clear headwater streams of the north hold trout: brook trout are the only kind native to these southern mountains, while the rainbows and browns most anglers chase were brought in later. Down in the Oconee Piedmont the signature species is different -- stands of pine are managed for the red-cockaded woodpecker, a small endangered bird that nests only in living old pines. Add in beaver, bobcat, and a deep mix of songbirds, and -- a north-Georgia summer specialty -- 'blue ghost' fireflies, which glow a steady, eerie blue-white instead of blinking as they drift low through the dark woods.

Notable features

The northern forest's crown is Brasstown Bald, at about 4,784 feet the highest point in Georgia, with a summit lookout that on a clear day is said to take in several states at once. The Appalachian Trail begins here too: its southern end sits atop Springer Mountain, deep in the Chattahoochee -- the terminus was moved to Springer back in 1958 from nearby Mount Oglethorpe. The forest cradles the headwaters of the Chattahoochee River, which starts as a mountain trickle and eventually flows past Atlanta, and along its eastern edge it shares the Chattooga, a federally protected Wild and Scenic river on the Georgia-South Carolina border (its headwaters reach up into North Carolina) -- the whitewater that stood in for the movie 'Deliverance.' Waterfalls are everywhere, from the twin cascades of Anna Ruby Falls to dozens of smaller drops, and the Cohutta Wilderness in the northwest is one of the largest wilderness areas in the eastern United States. Tucked high in the Cohuttas, Lake Conasauga -- built by the Civilian Conservation Corps -- is often called the highest lake in Georgia.

camps mapped

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1.8M

acres inside boundary

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Acreage is the area inside this forest’s administrative boundary (U.S. Forest Service), which takes in private land as well. National Forest System land inside it is usually less.

The Chattahoochee-Oconee is really two Georgia forests run from one office. The Chattahoochee climbs the north-Georgia mountains -- cold trout streams, waterfalls, and the southern end of the Appalachian Trail at Springer Mountain -- while the Oconee spreads across the gentler pine-and-hardwood Piedmont farther south, on land that was worn-out cotton country before the government bought it and let the woods grow back. Cool detail: the whole Appalachian Trail starts here, and Georgia's highest ground -- Brasstown Bald, about 4,784 feet -- sits in the northern forest.

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the whole network, filtered to this forest

Cool to know

The whole Appalachian Trail starts here. Its southern end is on Springer Mountain, inside the Chattahoochee -- and it hasn't always been there: the terminus was moved to Springer in 1958 from Mount Oglethorpe, a few ridges south, after development crowded the old start.
One forest spans two completely different worlds. Brasstown Bald in the northern half tops out near 4,784 feet, Georgia's highest point, while the high ground of the Oconee down in the Piedmont is only around 700 feet -- mountain forest and gentle farm-country forest, run from the same office.
The Oconee is a forest that grew back on purpose. Its rolling pine and hardwood woods stand on Piedmont fields that cotton farming had worn out and gullied; the government bought the exhausted land and helped the forest return.
On warm summer nights parts of the north Georgia mountains glow with 'blue ghost' fireflies -- a species that gives off a long, steady blue-white light instead of the usual blink, drifting low over the forest floor.

Camps are sourced from public U.S. Forest Service recreation data and have not been personally visited. Roads shown are Forest Service passenger-car routes (maintenance level 3–5) and may be seasonal or gated. Always confirm access, fees and fire rules with the ranger district before you go. Found a fee where we show free? Tell us on the contact page.