A Panaromic View of Georgia's Cloudland Canyon State Park

Georgia Motorcycle Rides - Cloudland Canyon State Park - Ride Route Map

Georgia Motorcycle Rides - Cloudland Canyon State Park - Short version of West Rim Hiking Trail

Take a Motorcycle Ride to Cloudland Canyon, One of the Georgia's Best State Parks

Tucked away in the Appalachian Mountains of northwest Georgia, Cloudland Canyon offers a fantastic variety of outdoor opportunities. And what better way to get there than a brisk backroad motorcycle ride!

Cloudland Canyon State Park

Cloudland Canyon State Park is an outdoor lovers paradaise. With scenic views, great facilities and some of the best hiking anywhere you can spend a few hours or your entire vacation.

Park Features and Facilities

This first-class park offers its visitors a full range of features, services and activities. Picnic areas, RV and tent camping, cottages, backcountry camping, gift shop and a group lodge and facilties mean you'll be able to enjoy your visit to the fullest.

Hiking

Cloudland Canyon's hiking trails provide a great way for you to enjoy the outdoors, no matter what level of hiking you're looking for. You'll find everything from an easy stroll on a paved walkway to challenging all day trails. Here's a quick recap of the trails.

Overlook Trail

This is an easy stroll accessed from the parking area.

West Rim Trail

Although strenuous in places this hike will reward you with incredible views of the canyon. Using the map on the right we followed the portion of the trail marked in magenta. We were able to cover this shortened hike in a little over two hours which included plenty of time to take pictures, talk to a few people, have something to eat and just stop and enjoy the view.

The picture at the top of the page was taken at the overlook at the end of the magenta trail.

We highly recommend taking your lunch and doing this shortened hike if you have the time. Good boots with decent traction are recommended, but you'll see plenty of people doing this trail in sneakers. If you've never really hiked before this trail is about the best place we can think of to start a lifetime addiction to hiking. We have found hiking to be the perfect compliment to touring by motorcycle.

The ride and destination review below has pictures and more information on the hike.

Waterfalls Trail

We did not have the time (or energy) to try this hike. Rated a strenuous and time consuming hike, there are over 1,200 stair steps leading to two separate waterfalls.

Sittons Gulch Loop Trail

Another strenuous and time consuming hike, there are also over 1,200 stair steps in this 6.5 mile hike.

Two Mile Backcountry Loop

Rated as a moderate hike this trail offers access to backcountry camping. As with the previous wo hikes we have not yet hada chance to try this trail.

Learn More About Cloudland Canyon State Park

Click Here to visit the official Georgia State Parks page for Cloudland Canyon. At the site you can find detailed information on fees, services and ours of operation. You'll also find several PDF maps of the park and hiking trails.

North Atlanta to Cloudland Canyon - GA Motorcycle Ride Review

The ride route begins in Kennesaw, just north and west of Atlanta off I-75. You'll find plenty of lodging and restaurants in the area. We stayed at the Marriott Springhill suites. If you’re a frequent traveller be sure to signup for your preferred hotel's rewards program. Marriott's program is quite generous and has paid off well for us!
You'll head out through Acworth GA. Almost swallowed by Atlanta's growth this little town offers shopping, entertainment and dining. Plan a stop here on your return trip to pick up gifts for the family back home or enjoy a nice end of ride meal.
One of the buildings in Acworth has this restored Coca-Cola wall sign. We've seen a lot of interest in preserving these old style signs on our rides.
The ride out takes you through Euharlee which has a preserved covered bride. Closed to traffic it's still a nice spot to take a break and stretch your legs.
As you continue west you'll follow sweepers and country roads through scenic farmland. Speed limits are reasonable and traffic is light so enjoy the ride.
Unless you have a darn good reason avoid downtown Rome! The traffic through this town was pretty much unbelievable and the main road through town is your basic strip mall/big box thoroughfare. The ride directions route you on the bypass.
Once you get past Rome you'll be back out in the country. We stopped at The Pocket picnic area and campground on our way out. The picnic area was very nice and there are restrooms available which were clean and usable when we stopped.
The campsites at The Pocket are quite nice. However they lack hookups and there are no shower facitlities. If you have a self-contained RV or are on a long ride and need a place to stop cheap the $10 overnight fee can't be beat.
Once you reach Cloudland Canyon you can stroll the Overlook Trail directly from the parking lot.
The cabins at Cloudland look to be a nice way to visit the area, especially if you are riding with others and can split the cost. Click Here check heck the park website for rates and availability.
Here's the view looking across the canyon from the Overlook Trail. To get an idea of the scale note the rocky area in the middle of the photograph.
Here's a zoom in to the rocks on the previous picture. The people in this picture are at the end of the shortened Rim Trail hike described above.
The West Rim Trail is a compacted gravel path with stairs located at steep inclines. The hike is moderately strenuous, however as long as you take it easy and wear good boots most people in good health should have no problem making it to the overview in the shortened hike.
The views on the West Rim Trail hike are simply amazing. This one is shortly after you start.
After you work your way over the second footbridge you'll come to and area with large flat rocks with large cracks running between them. This is an excellent place o stop and enjoy your lunch or snack. Don't forget to pack your garbage back out with you. There's plenty of trash cans back at the parking area. In fact, if you have room in your trash bag why not pickup a piece or two of litter someone else left.
This small tree likes to live dangerously. It's amazing to me that it has survived out on this ledge. Look for him at the end of the shortened hike.
Overall we spent about 2 1/2 hours on the shortened hike. This included time to take pictures, talk to several people we met on the way, have a snack at the flat rocks and just stop and enjoy the scenery whenever we could.
To learn more about Cloudland Canyon check out the following links Cloudland Canyon State Park Official website Cloudland Canyon Hiking Trails Map in PDF format
Last Updated 10/5/2009