Hiking Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park

Stand up from the Thanksgiving table, put on those boots, and get ready to hike during a quiet, peaceful time of year.

The following is a guest blog post by avid hiker Taylor Coen of Marietta, Ga.

Kennesaw Mountain

The Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park Visitor’s Center is off Stilesboro Road and Old 41 Highway at the mountain. There is a small parking lot in front of the Visitor’s Center as well as a bigger one down Stilesboro Road. You must pay to park in both. Inside the Visitor’s Center, there are bathrooms, a gift shop, a museum, and an auditorium that plays a movie about the battles fought throughout the park.       

Next to the parking lot is a wooded picnic area with tables and past that is the Environmental Loop, my favorite trail at this part of the park. It’s completely shrouded by trees, and I have seen deer throughout. As you walk the trail, there are signs that talk about the forest ecosystem, and the trees, plants and animals that thrive there. Halfway through the loop is a creek, and it does get hilly at parts.

Behind the Visitor’s Center is the mountain road which you can drive up to the small parking lot on top or walk up to from the bottom. Whether you drive or walk, halfway up the mountain you can see downtown Marietta and Stone Mountain in the distance, and once on top you can see Atlanta. You’ll probably spot deer as you’re heading up to the mountaintop parking lot.

Going further up the mountain, to the summit, you’ll see cannons as well as signs talking about the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain and the burning of Atlanta. The summit is gorgeous and is lined with big rocks. From the parking lot, there is a trail on the left going back down the mountain and eventually meets up with the mountain road, right where you started. The path down is breathtaking, you may see deer here as well, and it is easier than going up the mountain (naturally), but still be careful. I have slipped a few times going down.

Kennesaw Mountain is an unbelievable experience and I recommend everyone seeing the mountain at least once.

Pigeon Hill

My favorite part of the park; I fell in love with this area right away. Off Burnt Hickory Road, going towards Ernest W. Barrett Parkway, there is a small parking lot on the left and two giant open fields intersecting at the trail. On the right, the path there will take you to Camp Brumby and all the way to Kennesaw Mountain. The trail by the parking lot goes all the way to Dallas Highway, and you can cross the street into Cheatham Hill. There is a sign at the beginning of the trail that talks about the house that used to be in that open field, parallel to the road, and how it burned down during the Civil War.

Going along the main trail, you’ll cross over a few small creeks, be engulfed in beautiful woods, which gets dark in a few places, and usually spot deer. After a while, you’ll notice a trail on your right that directs you up and down through some hills. It does get steep, and eventually brings you out to a larger creek. If you stay on the main trail, you’ll pass a field on your right before coming up to another trail on your left. This one goes up and back to Burnt Hickory, traverses it, and then connects with the Little Kennesaw Mountain trail as well as the Camp Brumby trail. Keep following the main trail and you’ll reach a bridge. This is a beautiful spot.

The creek there is nice and to the right of the bridge there are trails on each side. The right side connects to the hilly path from earlier, which goes back towards the parking lot, and brings you to where the lumber mill used to be. The left side trail, my favorite trail in the entire park, takes you up away from the creek; a strenuous path but there is a bench you can rest on. It goes up and down, eventually passing over a smaller creek before going up again, and ends at Dallas Highway, right across the street from Cheatham Hill. It links with the main path and then takes you all the way back to the parking lot.

If you cross Burnt Hickory at the Pigeon Hill parking lot, you’ll see the Little Kennesaw Mountain path, one of my favorite trails. The first time I hiked it, I had my dad drop me off and then pick me up once I got to Big Kennesaw Mountain, because I didn’t want to hike all the way back to Pigeon Hill. This trail goes through some open and rocky areas, but it is mostly wooded, a gorgeous part of the forest. As you go up Little Kennesaw Mountain, it gets steep, but when you look down from the mountain, you can see the slopes in the trail, which is cool. Getting to the top of the mountain feels like a huge feat, and going down the other side of the mountain is much easier, the woods here being pretty and calming. You’ll then come up to some stairs that lead you across the mountain road and up to the top of Big Kennesaw Mountain.

At the beginning of the Little Kennesaw Mountain trail, you’ll see a path to the right, which will take you to Camp Brumby. It’s a stunning trail that is mostly wooded, and after a while, it’ll open to the Civilian Conservation Corps camp built during the 1930s. The ruins here are cool, as well as a bright open field in the center, as if the camp is still welcoming anyone to visit. I could feel that part of history remaining within the structures left behind. If you do pass the camp, the trail will end up at the Visitor’s Center.

I’ve hiked this part of the park the most and every time I walk through, I’ve had a different experience. Pigeon Hill will aways have a place in my heart.

Cheatham Hill

There are a ton of great hikes throughout Cheatham Hill and some hidden gems. Cheatham Hill’s an oasis if you’re looking to get away from the noise of the town and the wildlife is a surprising bonus. They appear sometimes out of nowhere.

This section of the park is located off Dallas Highway. Look for the sign before you get to Cheatham Hill Road and turn left onto a road that takes you to the parking lot. Pay a $5 fee to park, unless you have a parking pass, which you can buy at nearby Kennesaw Mountain Visitor Center. In case you’re worried about having to go to the bathroom while hiking, like I do, there are bathrooms in the parking lot, and they are very nice.

There is a trail at the end of the parking lot that leads to the Illinois Monument, made of Georgia white marble. Leading up to the monument are earthen works, cannons, and sometimes deer. The monument itself is beautiful and there are signs that talk about the battle that was fought there. It overlooks the Dead Angle, a huge open field that almost always has deer eating the grass between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., at least in the fall.

If you go down from the monument towards the Dead Angle, there is a trail on your right that will lead into beautiful and usually dark woods, a nice transition from the sunny field. You’ll walk across two bridges and two creeks meeting up with three paths. The path on the left is one of my favorite trails. Follow the creek until you cross it, as the trail continues. The creek is beautiful and very calming.

Going across the creek leads you to a main trail where you can go right or left. Going left will lead you back to the monument or the parking lot, depending on which trail you take. Going right heads to Kolb Farm. Take a left and you’ll meet up with the Cease Fire trail, a nice and easy, mostly flat path which goes back to the Dead Angle. If you pass the Cease Fire trail, you’ll come up to the Unknown Soldier trail, where you can see the grave of a soldier who was never identified. This path is steep and ends up behind the monument. If you pass up both the Cease Fire trail and the Unknown Soldier trail, you’ll go up some hills and this path is also steep. It’s a beautiful trail though, quite peaceful, and eventually comes out at the bathrooms.

Going back to the woods and the three paths, if you take the path on the right, another one of my favorite trails, you’ll travel alongside the creek and follow it all the way out to another open field. This trail is beautiful and has gorgeous trees stretched across the slope above you. I have seen deer across this area, as well as a turtle. Halfway down the path, there is another trail going up and to your left that also connects to the field. Both paths meet and lead you to Cheatham Hill Road, where there is another parking lot. There, you can also continue to Kolb Farm.

Instead of going to the road, you can take either the left or the right path. Right goes back to the woods and back to the Illinois Monument. It’s a stunning trail, very peaceful and quiet, follows along Cheatham Hill Road and goes through a cute grove of small trees that eventually stop as you head back into the woods, parallel to the creek. You’ll then come out to a smaller field, before hitting Dallas Highway. There is a path on the left that passes through the field and loops back to the main trail. If you stay on the main trail, it shifts right and opens into another large field, where there are almost always deer. If you swing right again, you’ll walk for a little bit before seeing a cannon. The trail will then eventually meet the Dead Angle.

Well, that’s all the trails I’ve experienced for this park. Thank you for joining me on this adventure and keep hiking.

An avid hiker, Taylor Coen has worked at Yellowstone, Zion and Denali national parks in addition to volunteering at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park in Marietta, Ga. He holds an anthropolgy degree from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.