Some of Georgia’s most-visited state parks are found in the Blue Ridge Mountains, including Amicalola Falls, Black Rock Mountain, Tallulah Gorge, Unicoi, and Vogel. Two much larger lakes, Lanier and Hartwell, are situated in the foothills just south of the Blue Ridge. These rivers provide the waters for a number of reservoirs, including Lake Burton, Lake Chatuge, and Lake Rabun, that also enhance the recreational opportunities in the area. The Chattooga, Toccoa, Tugaloo, and other rivers in the region are popular recreation areas, particularly for whitewater rafters, canoers, and kayakers. Spectacular waterfalls include Amicalola (the tallest east of the Mississippi River), Anna Ruby, Hiawassee, and Toccoa. The Blue Ridge also has impressive gorges and canyons, the most notable of which is Tallulah Gorge, which spans the border between Habersham and Rabun counties and is one of the state’s most visited tourist destinations. The southern terminus of the famed Appalachian Trail is on Springer Mountain (3,782 feet) in Gilmer County Blood Mountain (4,461 feet) in Union County is the highest peak on Georgia’s portion of the trail. Other tall peaks include Rabun Bald (4,694 feet) in Rabun County and Tray Mountain (4,430 feet) in Towns and White counties. Instead of rising to a distinctive peak, Brasstown Bald is unusual in that it is a barely discernible rise in Wolfpen Ridge, which extends for miles to the north and south. The highest, Brasstown Bald (4,784 feet), is partly in Towns County and partly in Union County. Within its bounds are Georgia’s highest peaks. Most of the Blue Ridge Mountains are part of the 750,000-acre Chattahoochee National Forest, managed by the U.S. Photograph by Ryan McKee Natural Resources and Recreational Opportunities The headwaters of the Savannah River, which flows to the Atlantic, are the Chattooga River, which rises in the Blue Ridge near the juncture of the Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina borders. The Etowah River, which also flows to the gulf, rises in Lumpkin County.

For instance, Georgia’s Chattahoochee River basin, whose waters flow into the gulf, rises near the borders of Union and Towns counties. The Blue Ridge Mountains’ crest, for much of its length, forms the drainage dividing line known as the Eastern Continental Divide, which separates rivers flowing eastward into the Atlantic Ocean from those flowing westward to the Gulf of Mexico. The Blue Ridge occupies all or portions of eleven counties in Georgia: Dawson, Fannin, Gilmer, Habersham, Lumpkin, Pickens, Rabun, Stephens, Towns, Union, and White. The Blue Ridge’s southern boundary is along the Brevard Fault, at an elevation of 1,700 feet, where the Piedmont province begins. They are separated from the Blue Ridge by geologic formations known as the Hightower-Jasper Ridges and the McCaysville Basin in north central Georgia, along a boundary roughly marked by Georgia Highway 5. Northwest Georgia consists of several smaller ranges-the Cohuttas, the Unakas, and the Cumberland Plateau. It makes up the southernmost part of the Appalachian mountain chain, a vast complex of ranges that extends from north Georgia through New England. The Blue Ridge, so named because its peaks and ridges often appear wrapped in a soft blue haze, consists of a nearly unbroken chain of mountains stretching from Virginia and North Carolina and extending nearly 100 miles into Georgia.

New blue titler crop border