About the Pine Mountain Trail
Since 1975, volunteers of all ages have labored to build and maintain the Pine Mountain Trail, a 23-mile footpath. This main trail and connecting loops, that crosses and follows the beautiful Pine Mountain ridge in west central Georgia, is inside the Franklin Delano Roosevelt State Park near Pine Mountain. The trail and trail association were founded by D. Neal Wickham of Columbus.
Quiet woods, sparkling streams, misty waterfalls, rock outcroppings, varied forest, scenic overlooks, deer and turkey await your discovery. Just follow the blazes (6" by 2 ½" rectangles painted on trees). Mileage markers assist the hiker. Wooden location and mileage signs have been placed at each road crossing, trail head, junction, campsite, and at all named parking lots and trailheads. The Pine Mountain Trail offers clear crisp views of distant ridges in winter, with occasional snowfall. In the summer there are lush green ferns and lowland flowers. Wild flowers are abundant and in spring you will find flowering dogwood, native azalea, mountain laurel and rhododendron. Fall brings bright and beautiful leaves of hickory, oak, dogwood and maple, which change from day to day.
Much of the land that the Pine Mountain Trail crosses on the eastern end once belonged to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. His farm included the site of WJSP-TV tower and just south of GA 190 near Alt 85. FDR often visited Dowdell’s Knob and the area of the Wolfden and Cascade Falls as well as the fish hatchery ponds built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the late 1930’s. On April 12, 1945, Roosevelt died at the Little White House at Warm Springs, a couple miles from the trail and Cascade Falls. On April 12, 2007, the PMTA completed and dedicated a wooden trailhead shelter info kiosk and trail parking lot at Dowdell Knob which, at 1,395 feet, is the highest point on the trail. On the same day, the Georgia DNR dedicated a new life size statue of FDR depicting him sitting on a car seat overlooking Pine Mountain Valley. A nearby flag pole flies a 1940’s era 48-star flag.
The Pine Mountain Trail Association, Inc. (PMTA) was organized to design and build the best trail system possible. D. Neal Wickham as being the driving force to establish the PMT, spent countless hours planning, scouting and preparing the land prior to construction. PMTA Members and other volunteers started working on a weekly schedule, seeking the best route, selecting points of interest and building a safe and functional trail. Until new trails could be built, old existing horse trails and Boy Scout trails were used as temporary connecting paths. Miles of trail was obtained in this way but it took years of rerouting and work to get the final route.
The result: a trail designed for maximum enjoyment with many points of interest and few steep, tiring grades. Neal and volunteers were working in winter’s freezing temperatures and summer's sweltering heat, to complete the 23-mile, blue-blazed trail which was opened from the FDR park entrance (near the Country Store at US 27 and Georgia 190) past Dowdell Knob and on to the WJSP-TV tower/Mile 23 Trailhead north of Warm Springs. Less than two miles remain of the old trail. The Pine Mountain Trail Association appreciates the cooperation and the continuing efforts of the management and staff of FDR State Park and the Georgia DNR Parks Division.
It is estimated that more than 60,000 hikers use the trail each year and over 1 million hikers had hiked all or part of the trail by 1995. The trails are for foot travel only. Horses and wheeled anything are strictly forbidden.
Twenty-one designated and named back-country/backpacking campsites are at various places a short distance off the trails. Use of them is by permit only and reservations are required and a fee is charged. Several thousand backpackers use the sites each year including many Scout groups. In addition to the 23-mile main trail there are now seven named loops, formed by named connecting trails and the main PMT. In 2005, Neal proposed and laid out the seventh, a trail which became the White Candle Trail. In 2006 under Carl Carlson’s direction, Pine Mountain Trail Association volunteers completed the 2.4 mile trail section, which combined with the Beaver Pond Trail forms 3.4 mile East End Loop dedicated in December 2006. .
Near GA 190, the White Candle Trail passes through a section of old long leaf pines that FDR had planted in 1930. See TRAIL DESCRIPTIONS on this website for information about each loop including the Mountain Creek Nature Trail Loop (3.2 miles)
The Pine Mountain Trail is within FDR State Park. FDR, like all state parks requires a daily use fee for parking anywhere within the park. Annual Georgia Park Passes are good at all state parks such as FDR. Contact the FDR park office for all fee/permit rates and other information by calling 706-663-4858. The park office is open 7 days a week 8 am to 5 pm. Parking Permits are available throughout the park at Self Pay boxes. You don’t have to pay to just day hike (just to park).
In late 2000, Georgia 190 was named Neal Wickham Highway in Neal’s honor as founder of the Pine Mountain Trail who personally spent thousands of hours with its planning and clearing from 1975 till the trails completion. After the main trails completion he began maintaining and adding loops and did so till about 1994 when he turned over maintenance to the now deceased Carl Carlson. Neal remained active with the trail association board till his death on May 18, 2016 at age 86. There is a commemorative rock and plaque at the trail's end (Mile 23/ WJSP TV Tower Trailhead Parking) that was put there in his honor in 1995 (the 20th anniversary of the trail). On October 15, 2016 a new Mile 23 trailhead info kiosk next to the commemorative rock was dedicated as "NEAL'S REST". There would not be a Pine Mountain Trail if not for D. Neal Wickham. He has inspired hundreds of volunteers to carry on what he started.
In 2022 the Pine Mountain Trail Association built and opened CARL’S COVE-Easy Hiking Trail. Named in memory of Carl Carlson who passed away in 2019. On this website there is section about the trail where you can view a map and read more about Carl.
Quiet woods, sparkling streams, misty waterfalls, rock outcroppings, varied forest, scenic overlooks, deer and turkey await your discovery. Just follow the blazes (6" by 2 ½" rectangles painted on trees). Mileage markers assist the hiker. Wooden location and mileage signs have been placed at each road crossing, trail head, junction, campsite, and at all named parking lots and trailheads. The Pine Mountain Trail offers clear crisp views of distant ridges in winter, with occasional snowfall. In the summer there are lush green ferns and lowland flowers. Wild flowers are abundant and in spring you will find flowering dogwood, native azalea, mountain laurel and rhododendron. Fall brings bright and beautiful leaves of hickory, oak, dogwood and maple, which change from day to day.
Much of the land that the Pine Mountain Trail crosses on the eastern end once belonged to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. His farm included the site of WJSP-TV tower and just south of GA 190 near Alt 85. FDR often visited Dowdell’s Knob and the area of the Wolfden and Cascade Falls as well as the fish hatchery ponds built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the late 1930’s. On April 12, 1945, Roosevelt died at the Little White House at Warm Springs, a couple miles from the trail and Cascade Falls. On April 12, 2007, the PMTA completed and dedicated a wooden trailhead shelter info kiosk and trail parking lot at Dowdell Knob which, at 1,395 feet, is the highest point on the trail. On the same day, the Georgia DNR dedicated a new life size statue of FDR depicting him sitting on a car seat overlooking Pine Mountain Valley. A nearby flag pole flies a 1940’s era 48-star flag.
The Pine Mountain Trail Association, Inc. (PMTA) was organized to design and build the best trail system possible. D. Neal Wickham as being the driving force to establish the PMT, spent countless hours planning, scouting and preparing the land prior to construction. PMTA Members and other volunteers started working on a weekly schedule, seeking the best route, selecting points of interest and building a safe and functional trail. Until new trails could be built, old existing horse trails and Boy Scout trails were used as temporary connecting paths. Miles of trail was obtained in this way but it took years of rerouting and work to get the final route.
The result: a trail designed for maximum enjoyment with many points of interest and few steep, tiring grades. Neal and volunteers were working in winter’s freezing temperatures and summer's sweltering heat, to complete the 23-mile, blue-blazed trail which was opened from the FDR park entrance (near the Country Store at US 27 and Georgia 190) past Dowdell Knob and on to the WJSP-TV tower/Mile 23 Trailhead north of Warm Springs. Less than two miles remain of the old trail. The Pine Mountain Trail Association appreciates the cooperation and the continuing efforts of the management and staff of FDR State Park and the Georgia DNR Parks Division.
It is estimated that more than 60,000 hikers use the trail each year and over 1 million hikers had hiked all or part of the trail by 1995. The trails are for foot travel only. Horses and wheeled anything are strictly forbidden.
Twenty-one designated and named back-country/backpacking campsites are at various places a short distance off the trails. Use of them is by permit only and reservations are required and a fee is charged. Several thousand backpackers use the sites each year including many Scout groups. In addition to the 23-mile main trail there are now seven named loops, formed by named connecting trails and the main PMT. In 2005, Neal proposed and laid out the seventh, a trail which became the White Candle Trail. In 2006 under Carl Carlson’s direction, Pine Mountain Trail Association volunteers completed the 2.4 mile trail section, which combined with the Beaver Pond Trail forms 3.4 mile East End Loop dedicated in December 2006. .
Near GA 190, the White Candle Trail passes through a section of old long leaf pines that FDR had planted in 1930. See TRAIL DESCRIPTIONS on this website for information about each loop including the Mountain Creek Nature Trail Loop (3.2 miles)
The Pine Mountain Trail is within FDR State Park. FDR, like all state parks requires a daily use fee for parking anywhere within the park. Annual Georgia Park Passes are good at all state parks such as FDR. Contact the FDR park office for all fee/permit rates and other information by calling 706-663-4858. The park office is open 7 days a week 8 am to 5 pm. Parking Permits are available throughout the park at Self Pay boxes. You don’t have to pay to just day hike (just to park).
In late 2000, Georgia 190 was named Neal Wickham Highway in Neal’s honor as founder of the Pine Mountain Trail who personally spent thousands of hours with its planning and clearing from 1975 till the trails completion. After the main trails completion he began maintaining and adding loops and did so till about 1994 when he turned over maintenance to the now deceased Carl Carlson. Neal remained active with the trail association board till his death on May 18, 2016 at age 86. There is a commemorative rock and plaque at the trail's end (Mile 23/ WJSP TV Tower Trailhead Parking) that was put there in his honor in 1995 (the 20th anniversary of the trail). On October 15, 2016 a new Mile 23 trailhead info kiosk next to the commemorative rock was dedicated as "NEAL'S REST". There would not be a Pine Mountain Trail if not for D. Neal Wickham. He has inspired hundreds of volunteers to carry on what he started.
In 2022 the Pine Mountain Trail Association built and opened CARL’S COVE-Easy Hiking Trail. Named in memory of Carl Carlson who passed away in 2019. On this website there is section about the trail where you can view a map and read more about Carl.