Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area West Palisades

This update is for the Rottenwood Creek multi use trail, which runs from the large parking lot off Cobb Pkwy up the western edge of the West Palisades NRA unit along Rottenwood Creek until meeting up with the Bob Callan trail at the park boundary. Note that Google maps, and probably a lot of people, incorrectly label the entire 1.8 mile length of the path as the Bob Callan trail. In fact, all but about 0.45 miles is inside the park and is called the Rottenwood Creek trail.
Whatever you call it, it’s a nice walking and biking path. On the southern half, you’ll enjoy nice creek views. The upper half, along with the Bob Callan trail, provide some elevation change and is also nice but its considerably closer to and more influenced by city civilization, particularly Cumberland Pkwy and I-​285. The path runs under I-​75 and I-​285 — both those crossings create cool settings for the path, especially I-​75 where it crosses the Chattahoochee River. When the water is running hard, you get a good sense of the power of the river. Near the I-​285 crossing is where the path (again) bridges Rottenwood Creek, leaves the park and joins Bob Callan. There’s a nice minor waterfall at this point, provided the water’s running.
You can also enter the West Palisades hiking trail system from the Rottenwood Creek trail at two points just after the trail bends up along the creek and away from the river.

On my countless drives over the 285 bridge (north end) and the river, I was always in awe of the view. Trout fishing on the Hooch is one of my favorite things to do, but it seems like I have not done it In ages. After a random lunch yesterday with my buddy, we decided to rectify that.
As I was sitting in the parking lot of Peter Cheng’s, I was looking up where the locations for the National Recreation Areas were, since I knew there was a few around. When I found out the closest one was 3 left turns away, we were excited, and off we went!
Upon entering, make sure you turn left at the illegit looking brown sign– trust me, I had second thoughts too! After a short drive, you end up at the pay station. Parking is $ 3, or $ 25 for am annual pass. Hell, for $ 80, you can get a pass that covers all NRAs in the States (I need to look it up though for the true definition of that pass). I had no change, so I put a $ 10 in the envelope. After what we did, that did not bother me one bit.
Now mind you, we both just ate a HUGE, SPICY meal, and we had no gear on us. My buddy wore moccasins, I was wearing running shoes. We just wanted to scout the area and capture nature. Speaking of all of this, I was shocked to not see another car (or human for that fact), on the trek.
It appeared you could take your car/​truck and boat down a ramp– but it looked like it was all blocked off. So we went on foot.
There were plenty of trails and such, but we just wanted to get up and close to the river. With that being said– if you cannot take your car down there and you plan on fishing, make sure you pack light, as the trek can be exhausting (coming from someone who walks 15 – 20 miles a day at work).
We got to the river after about 8 minutes, and the views were breathtaking– it also reminded me how strong the current gets in the river too! We followed the trails along the banks, and kept going. We hit these rock walls, but I told my buddy lets keep going! We did. If you decide to walk the banks, make sure you are extra careful– as some points are very steep, and narrow– and expect a 30+ft fall if you slip! When it got to the point of a 50+fall potential, we decided to go back.
The walk back felt like it took longer, and we were going to check out the restrooms (mind you there are no restrooms at the pay station) and boat dock (which were on the northern west side of the river, we walked the south west side) — we noticed the big hill we had to climb up. As I said earlier, the big meal we had earlier didn’t help the walk– but we made it up. Let’s just say I was taking off clothes during the ascent– and it was only 34 degrees at the time.
Now I know how this place operates and what it has to offer, I will definitely come check out this spot again. A hidden gem for all nature lovers!