Dates: April 3 – 5, 2023
Site: 42
Total Round Trip Millage: 207

Vogel State Park, established in 1931, is the second oldest state park in Georgia. The park system of the state of Georgia was founded in 1931 with Indian Springs State Park and Vogel State Park. Indian Springs has been operated by the state as a public park since 1825, making it perhaps the oldest state park in the US.

At an elevation of 2,280 feet Vogel is nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains at the base of Blood Mountain. The park lies in the middle of the Chattahoochee National Forest and covers 233 acres with a 22-acre Lake Trahlyta. The lake was built in the 1930’s by the Civilian Conservation Corps and named after the Indian Princess Trahlyta.

Camping – the park provides 103 tent and trailer campsites, most with water and electrical hook-ups. There are 4 comfort stations in the campground as well as two sanitary disposal stations.

Bear Hair Gap Trail
The Bear Hair Gap Trail is a little over 4 mile loop up and over the lower ridges of Blood mountain. The trail leaves the park and travels onto the Chattahoochee National Forest. It took us a little over 2 hours to complete the trail and you have to cross several creeks. I found the hike to be moderate in difficulty.

Byron Herbert Reece Nature Trail
Mr. Reece (1917-1958) was a mountain farmer and poet. He was born near the base of blood mountain. He received inspiration for his poem from this mountain environment. You access this Nature trail from the Backcountry Trailhead located near the campground. This trail is about a mile long, easy and takes about and hour. There are several information markers along the trail to education about the plants and wildlife in the area.

Karen and Barry, my sister and brother-in-law, drove up from their house in Kennesaw, Ga for the afternoon to hike and have lunch with me on Tuesday. It took us about 2-1/2 hours to hike the 4.5 miles of the Bear Hair Gap Trail. We finished the hike and had lunch around 1:30PM and they headed home around 3PM.