Extensive public management has meant extensive development of camping facilities within these vast lands. Dockery Lake, part of the Chattahoochee National Forest, is an ideal example. The US Forest Service impounded a small clear highland stream and incorporated an inconspicuous, yet appealing campground into the natural landscape. Here, visitors can fish, hike and bike to their heart's desire, then return to enjoy a night by a woodland campfire. Under private ownership this may be an expensive enclave of second homes.
More escapes lie just beyond Georgia's borders.
To the west, a short drive down I-20, is Alabama's Pinhoti Trail , located in Talladega National Forest . Though this area's stretch of the Appalachians is less lofty and acclaimed, these mountains don't deserve less attention. The Pinhoti, Alabama's master trail, runs the spine of these old hills. The Pinhoti can be hiked for a day or a week. And it keeps getting longer.