Frady Branch
Length: 9.55 miles
Drive Time From Athens: 45-50 minutes
Total Elevation Gain: 1185 ft
Please note: The U.S. Forest Service charges a $3 fee for use of the mountain bike trail.
Also note that the trails are closed on the following days during hunting season:
Closed Oct 13-16, Nov 5-7, Nov 24-27, Dec 15-18
This is a shared-use trail system with horses, so be mindful of equestrian traffic. If you encounter a horse, dismount, speak to the rider (this calms horses) and walk past on the downhill side of the horse.
The trail mileage shown is the perimeter loop ridden counterclockwise. Many different lengths and arrangements are possible, and traffic is multidirectional.
"If you go for a walk in the woods in any woods in the WMA, sooner or later you will come across what we came across in these woods - this old stone structure. 50, 100, or 200 years ago, somebody picked up these stones and carried them here. Whatever else he did here the forest shrugged off long ago.
But the structure remains.
Other countries have ruined castles, pyramids, and parthenons. We have these grown over monuments to forgotten farmers. The structure names no names but whispers much about what must have been. There must have been a homestead, an apple tree, a barn, and children playing once their chores were done. All that must have been, or why this.
With enough research into local history, we might have been able to tell you more, but I like leaving the history there in the woods where the moss and the dragon flies and the rain and the snow know it even if we don't."
-Adapted from Charles Kuralt
To learn more about the remarkable history of the Lake Russell WMA, check out
http://www.lrwma.com/id23.htm
Topo Map:
Elevation Profile:
How to Get There:
Take 441 from Athens toward Commerce and Banks Crossing (approx 20 mins). At Banks Crossing take a right on GA Route 59 North. After approx 5 miles, veer left at sign which says "To I-85". Follow this road over I-85 and continue 13 miles until road ends. Take right onto GA 184. Trailhead is 6 miles on left.
