Tubing in Georgia

The Appalachian Trail begins in Georgia. Its southern approach climbs past Amicalola Falls, and the country around that trailhead (the Chattahoochee National Forest, the Cohutta Wilderness), carries the same rough character for miles in every direction. Guides working out of Blue Ridge and Helen run hiking, rock climbing, and mountain biking trips into these mountains all year, and a good one earns their fee fast: they know which ridge holds the view, which creek crossing runs high after rain, and how to pace a group that has never walked real elevation before.

Water shapes the rest of the story. The Chattooga, a designated Wild and Scenic River, delivers some of the Southeast's hardest-charging whitewater, guided trips run its Class II-IV+ rapids through a corridor that still feels remote. The Ocoee sits mostly across the Tennessee line, but Georgia-based outfitters run trips there regularly, which widens the rafting menu. When the whitewater has been enough, the slower water takes over: Lake Lanier and Lake Allatoona support guided kayaking, paddleboarding, and fishing charters on calmer terms.

Head south and east and the state changes completely. In the Golden Isles, St. Simons, Jekyll Island, sea kayak guides thread the salt marsh at slack tide, pointing out wading birds and the edges of maritime forest. The Okefenokee Swamp, a National Wildlife Refuge, is the stranger, better trip: a guided canoe or kayak day among alligators and blackwater, in a wetland unlike anything else in the state. Fishing charters run year-round out of Savannah and Brunswick, working inshore and offshore water depending on the season and the bite.