Pine Mountain is an unusual ridge that stands above the landscape in West Central Georgia reaching nearly from the Chattahoochee to the Flint River. It’s located near the town of Warm Springs, which was the cherished healthful, get-away of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It has been suggested that FDR’s depression-era concept of the New Deal may have been born from his relationship to the land and people of this corner of Georgia.

The geology of Pine Mountain is unusual because it’s something of a marooned landform, not a part of the Appalachians. The landscape hosts odd mixes of classic mountain species as well as species comfortable in the coastal plain. Trails follow dry sunny ridges to lush wetland creeks. The complex underlying geology helps support niche ecosystems, in addition to creating the warm upwellings of mineral-rich ground water that attracted so many to the warm springs for healing.

The rare Georgia Oak can be found here in abundance, also Blackjack Oak, Hickories, and even a little American Chestnut, and Long leaf Pine is common as well, unusual outside the coastal plain.

We’ll hike along a section of the Pine Mountain Trail, and we’ll visit Dowdell’s Knob, which has a sweeping view of the southwestern landscape as it rolls into Alabama. This was one of FDR’s favorite places to sit and reflect, where a bronze statue in his honor has recently been installed.

Our hike will be be a little more strenuous than our shorter walks, so be prepared to walk about 4 miles or maybe a little more, on trails that can be rough with roots and rocks, and a few fairly steep inclines. We’ll plan for a picnic lunch. 

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Photos: Ridge-top forest at Pine Mtn, Georgia Oak leaf, and FDR bronze statue at Dowdell’s Knob – by Kathryn Kolb