The Swinging Bridge and the Aska Trails: Blue Ridge's Backyard Wilderness
A 270-foot footbridge that sways over the Toccoa River and 17 miles of mountain trails — the Aska Adventure Area is where Blue Ridge goes to hike, bike, fish, and paddle.
Three miles of gravel road and a short walk through the woods lead to one of Blue Ridge’s most photographed spots: a 270-foot footbridge that sways gently over the clear, rushing Toccoa River. The Toccoa River Swinging Bridge and the surrounding Aska Adventure Area are where Blue Ridge goes to hike, bike, fish, and paddle — a backyard wilderness inside the Chattahoochee National Forest.
- The bridge: A ~270-foot suspension footbridge over the Toccoa River, built in 1977
- Often called: The longest swinging footbridge east of the Mississippi
- Aska Adventure Area: ~17 miles of hiking and mountain-biking trails
- Setting: Chattahoochee National Forest, between Lake Blue Ridge and the Toccoa River
- On the map: The Benton MacKaye Trail crosses the river at the bridge
The longest swinging bridge in the East
Built in 1977 by the U.S. Forest Service and the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club, the bridge is a pedestrian-only suspension span — and yes, it really does sway as you cross. It’s widely billed as the longest swinging footbridge east of the Mississippi River. It sits where the Benton MacKaye Trail crosses the Toccoa, so on a given day you might share it with families on a short stroll and long-distance backpackers alike.
A word of caution: the bridge is reached by rough Forest Service gravel roads off Highway 60, and those roads (and the parking area) sometimes close. Cell service is spotty. Check current conditions with the Forest Service’s Blue Ridge Ranger District before you go, and bring a vehicle that can handle gravel.
Miles of mountain trails
The Aska Adventure Area packs about 17 miles of trail into the ridges between Lake Blue Ridge and the Toccoa River. Routes range from the easy 2-mile Long Branch Loop to the longer Stanley Gap, Green Mountain, and Flat Creek trails, some climbing to around 3,200 feet for ridgeline views. Most trails are open to both hikers and mountain bikers, and parts overlap the Benton MacKaye Trail. Trailheads at Deep Gap and Stanley Gap are only minutes from downtown.
The river that becomes Olympic whitewater
The Toccoa is a gentle, scenic river here — great for a lazy canoe or kayak float, and a well-known trout fishery, especially in the cold water below Blue Ridge Dam. Follow it north and it crosses into Tennessee at McCaysville, where it takes a new name: the Ocoee. Downstream, that same river becomes the world-class whitewater that hosted the 1996 Olympic slalom events.
Expect rough gravel forest roads and little or no cell signal. Verify trail and road closures with the Blue Ridge Ranger District, wear shoes you don’t mind getting wet near the river, and pack out what you pack in — this is shared national forest land.
Cover photo: the Toccoa River Swinging Bridge on the Benton MacKaye Trail, by Crystal Thomas / USFWS (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons. Sources include the U.S. Forest Service, the Fannin County Chamber of Commerce, Explore Georgia, and Atlanta Trails.
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