The Georgia 4000 Challenge was officially started by the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club around the year 2014, though people had certainly been attempting to summit all of these peaks before that. It is the most well-known peakbagging list in the beautiful mountains of Northern Georgia, taking in most of the high peaks (over 4000 feet tall) around the southern end of the Appalachian Trail and the Cruel Jewel 100 mile course. As with any large peakbagging list there was some discussion as to which peaks to include, but this list of 32 peaks is what was chosen. A description of the “rules” that they came up with can be found here, but the main guidelines are:
- The large parking lot near the summit of Brasstown Bald cannot be used as the starting point for Brasstown Bald, Wolfpen Ridge South and Chimneytop Mt. For the purposes of this FKT it also seems reasonable not to get a ride from this parking lot after ascending either of these three peaks.
- Flint Knob is partially on private property and can be reached from Rabun Bald or Alex Gap.
- Alex Mountain is partially on private property and should be reached by walking up one of two roads: from either the junction of Bayberry Lane and Knob Drive or the junction of Wild Bird Way and Alex Mountain Drive.
It’s important to note that Double Knob South, as shown on the Georgia 4000 Challenge map, is not the peak with the Double Knob register. The register appears to be on Double Knob North. There is no register on Double Knob South, and it is a challenging bushwhack from any direction.
Several forest roads close to vehicles in the winter and there doesn’t seem to be a predetermined date for them to open. Do your research. We would also suggest that the clock start at the first trailhead and end at the last trailhead.
Charles Raffensperger proposed a related FKT challenge in 2015, the Georgia Beyond 4000, where he attempted to through-hike all of the 4000 footers in one push. He didn’t succeed on his attempt, but it would seem like a through-hike of the 4000 footers should be a variation of the Georgia 4000 footers, as is the standard with most peakbagging objectives.
