Boling Park / Etowah Trail System

The area on the right bank of the Etowah River, immediately downstream from Boling Park in Canton, forms what is called a “pocket wilderness.”

The parcels of land involved are owned either by the US Army Corps of Engineers or the Cherokee County Water and Sewer Authority. 

The Corps controls all the land surrounding Allatoona Lake, and the CCWSA has stepped in to buy parcels further from the lake. 

Over the years, Boy Scout Troop 241 of Canton has constructed a complex of trails in this area.

We will start at Boling Park, behind Cherokee High School in the City of Canton. 

Boling is a grassy riverside running and recreation park. 

Our first trail is the white trail, which follows the route of the original Sutallee Trace used by the first settlers to go from Canton to Sutallee. 

From there we will hike the yellow, the red, the purple and the green trails as well as some other connector routes as we tour this area. 

Parts of our hike will be along streams, parts along the Etowah, parts through pine woods and parts through hardwood and mixed forest, some of which is recovering from a tornado that came through in recent years. 

The Etowah here is typically at lake level in the summer, and flows freely in the winter.

1200 Marietta Highway, Canton GA 30114

Get on 575 going North

(Take a right out of the park and ride onto Busbee Dr which will immediately “T” into Busbee Parkway where you take a left.  Busbee Parkway will “T” into Chastain Road after a half mile where you take a right.  The ramp to 575 North will be on your left in another half mile.)

Near Canton take Exit 16 and merge onto GA-140/GA-20 W/GA-5 Bus toward GA-5 Bus North.

You are going to come to a stop light at Williamson Brothers Barbeque in about a mile. This is GA-5 (Marietta Highway). Take a right onto GA-5 and go less than a half mile.  Cross over the Etowah River Bridge and take an immediate left into Boling Park. (Big sign in front of the park.)

Do not pass Cherokee High School. If you do, turn around.

Within Boling Park, go straight back all the way to the pavilion. 

(You initially enter a little parking lot, and then soccer fields will be on the left with a sewage plant on the right, with big speed bumps. Then baseball fields on the right with the river to the left.  Keep going past these and the road will bear right and dead end into another large parking lot.  We will meet in the left hand nook of this parking lot, in front of the pavilion.)