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Panola Mountain State Park

Photo: Rob Meeks / CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

⛰️ Mountains

Panola Mountain State Park

Stockbridge, GA · Metro Atlanta

About

Panola Mountain is the granite outcrop Stone Mountain might have been if it had stayed wild, a 100-acre dome of bare rock so fragile that the only way onto its summit is a ranger-led hike booked ahead of time. In spring, shallow rock pools blaze red with Diamorpha, a tiny succulent that lives nowhere but these weathered granite flats, and the lichen and yellow daisies fill in the rest. Down off the rock, paved and forested trails loop past two small lakes and a nature center, fifteen minutes from Atlanta but a different world entirely.

Highlights

Ranger-led guided hikes onto the protected granite summitRare Diamorpha that turns the rock pools red in springNational Natural Landmark within the Arabia Mountain Heritage AreaPaved and forested trails, two lakes, and a nature centerJust 15 minutes from Atlanta

Getting there

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Georgia State Parks18 places

Georgia State Parks

Georgia's state parks pack a remarkable range into one state. Up north there are deep gorges and the tallest cascading waterfall in the Southeast; in the southwest, a pink-and-orange canyon erosion carved out of old farmland; through the middle, mineral springs and CCC-built lodges; and down south, the wild blackwater edge of the Okefenokee. These are the ones worth building a weekend around, from the Blue Ridge to the coast.