Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) was President. Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released to the public in the United States. The Great Depression was in its final years.
At the time, the name Cloudland Canyon was only a figment of the imagination. Before then, people knew the area as Sitton Gulch (or Gulf) or Trenton Gulf (the nearby city being Trenton, Georgia). Located at the northwest corner of Georgia, near Chattanooga, Tennessee, the area wasn’t even a park yet, rather, privately owned land.
Piece by piece, the state of Georgia began acquiring land from the private owners. Exactly when the land officially became a park, depends on who you talk to. Under FDR’s New Deal, specifically, the Civilian Conservation Corps, jobs were created for unemployed, unmarried men as a response to the Great Depression. The program provided manual labor opportunities for the development and conservation of American natural resources in rural areas owned by federal, state, and local governments.
By 1939, the first facilities and signs had been built throughout the area, and the park was officially open to the public.
Cloudland Canyon was born.
When you visit the park and are hiking the trails, you might run into some descendants of the original private owners (the Matthews, Moore, and McKaig families) who still live in the area.
Originally, Cloudland Canyon was a ruggedly handsome park consisting of an acreage of 1,924 acres (7.8 km) — roughly the equivalent of 10,236 steps, give or take. Since then, Cloudland has ballooned to 3,485 acres (14.1 km) , as new land was periodically purchased over time.
Up until 1939, the only access to the area was through Alabama or Tennessee. Georgia began work on Highway 136 which would connect U.S. 41 to the newly minted park. Access roads to Cloudland were also created by the Civilian Conservation Corps.
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Cloudland Canyon offers some spectacular views of Georgia.
Today, the park is a great destination for hikers, bikers, campers, cavers, disc- golfers and for anyone looking for a beautiful place to experience nature.
Cloudland Canyon has over 60 miles of trails which gives you a great view of the area’s views, nature, wildlife, and geology. At the rim of the canyon, land meets sky where a paved long trail overlooks the canyon below. A portion of this overlook trail is also wheelchair-accessible. There are four longer hiking trails, including a trail you can backpack, and another featuring breathtaking waterfalls.
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Featured Trails (see map)
- Overlook Trail
- The Waterfalls Trail
- Sitton’s Gulch Trail
- Backcountry Loop Trail
- Bear Creek Trail
- West Rim Loop Trail
- Cloudland Connector Trail
We wouldn’t call The Waterfalls Trail an easy walk to the grocery store, but it is well worth the effort to see the incredible falls. The trail begins at the main Overlook Trail and progresses down a 600-step staircase (don’t forget to count them yourself!) into the canyon. Along the way, you’ll be surrounded by the sounds of wind rustling trees, happy chirps of birds, the crunch of gravel and trail beneath your feet and more, as the sound of roaring water sounds closer and closer as you hike. Cherokee Falls is 0.3 miles (0.48 km) from the trailhead, and Hemlock Falls will greet you at the bottom of the canyon (0.5 miles / 0.80km) From Daniel Creek to Cherokee Falls, to Hemlock Falls, water flows down the canyon, running parallel to The Sitton’s Gulch Trail, which begins at the bottom of the Waterfalls Trail.
Friends of Cloudland Canyon State Park
Friends of Cloudland are volunteers who give of their time, talent and energy to support the park through various activities (trail maintenance, fundraising, hosting events, caring for wildlife, recycling, promoting the park, and more).
If you are interested in volunteering, click here to find out more