Hiking trails near Athens, Georgia

37 official trails lie within 25 miles of Athens — 116 miles in total, 27 rated easy and 4 hard or expert. Every distance and elevation figure below is computed from the agency centerline and a 10 m elevation model, not crowd-sourced.

The biggest climb nearby gains 228 ft; the median trail gains 95 ft.

Open the map on Athens

24 trails worth the drive

Trail	Miles	Climb	Difficulty	Drive from town
Blue Trail (Hard Labor Creek State Park)	14.6	228 ft	Expert	47 min · 27 mi
Bike Trail (Heritage Park)	7.8	208 ft	Hard	26 min · 16 mi
Town Creek Loop A	8.5	142 ft	Hard	1 h 03 min · 35 mi
Green Trail (Hard Labor Creek State Park)	6.8	130 ft	Hard	42 min · 26 mi
Town Creek Loop B	7.8	158 ft	Moderate	1 h 03 min · 35 mi
Hawkes Creek	4.5	102 ft	Moderate	30 min · 14 mi
Falling Creek Trail	5.0	200 ft	Moderate	59 min · 27 mi
Lakeside Trail	6.0	40 ft	Moderate	17 min · 6 mi
Outer Loop (Fort Yargo State Park)	4.1	115 ft	Moderate	38 min · 26 mi
Yellow Trail (Hard Labor Creek State Park)	2.7	106 ft	Easy	49 min · 28 mi
Horse Trail (Heritage Park)	2.2	119 ft	Easy	26 min · 16 mi
House Trail 1 (green)	2.6	146 ft	Easy	38 min · 23 mi
Cook's Trail	3.2	142 ft	Easy	20 min · 7 mi
Backcountry Trail	2.4	95 ft	Easy	16 min · 8 mi
Hiking and Biking Trail	2.1	95 ft	Easy	41 min · 24 mi
Horse Trail 9 (orange)	2.5	131 ft	Easy	39 min · 22 mi
Beach Trail	2.8	77 ft	Easy	48 min · 28 mi
Walking Trail (Watson Mill Bridge State Park)	1.5	54 ft	Easy	41 min · 24 mi
Monster Mile	1.2	119 ft	Easy	43 min · 28 mi
North Oconee River Greenway	3.1	31 ft	Easy	6 min · 2 mi
Horse Trail 4 (brown)	1.2	79 ft	Easy	38 min · 21 mi
Firefly Trail	2.9	35 ft	Easy	8 min · 3 mi
Horse Trail 8 (white)	1.8	72 ft	Easy	38 min · 23 mi
Orange Trail (The State Botanical Garden of Georgia)	1.1	126 ft	Easy	11 min · 4 mi

Quick picks near Athens

Easy and short: Yellow Trail (Hard Labor Creek State Park) — 2.7 mi, rated easy, 25 mi from town
Longest: Blue Trail (Hard Labor Creek State Park) — 14.6 mi, 23 mi from town

What the trails reach

Lakes: Green Trail (Hard Labor Creek State Park) to Lake Brantley; Lakeside Trail to Lake Chapman; Beach Trail to Lake Rutledge; Orange Trail (The State Botanical Garden of Georgia) to J S Ivy Lake

Nearby towns: Winder (20 mi) · Madison (26 mi) · Gainesville (35 mi) · Covington (36 mi)

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