Day Trip To Kennesaw Mountain National Park

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park is one of eleven different national parks in Georgia.  It is made up of Kennesaw Mountain, Little Kennesaw Mountain, and Pigeon Hill.  The park is open year-round and has a variety of trails to hike.  Since camping is not allowed at this park, it is best visited as a day trip.

This is a historical battlefield park, so there are a few Civil War monuments along the way.  At the entrance to the park, there are also cannons for you to stop and look at.

The park can get quite crowded in areas, but there is overflow parking available.  During non-COVID times, the park has shared bicycles available for rent.  These are not allowed on the off-road trails, but are allowed on Kennesaw Mountain Road.  Pets are allowed in the park, as long as they are on a leash.

One of the nice features about Kennesaw Mountain is the paved road that you can hike or bike up the mountain.  It is a road that has currently been closed off to cars.  It worked well for us, since we were pushing the stroller that does not do well on the unpaved portions of the trails.  While there were plenty of people around, it was not hard to maintain your distance from others, especially on the large section of paved road.  Masks are not required to be worn.  Some people chose to wear them and others did not.

We were hiking with the kids, which meant we did not make it all the way to the top of the mountain.  My son is usually a big complainer when it comes to walking long distances, but he did surprisingly well.  When you are walking on this road, it is uphill the entire way.  You keep thinking that you are going to get to a spot that flattens out for a bit, just to realize you are still going uphill.  We let our daughter walk a portion of the way, but she got tired and even tried to climb back into the stroller. Both kids enjoyed the leaves falling from the trees and the cool breeze.

By the time we visited, most of the leaves had already fallen off the trees.  While the park was still beautiful, I think it would have been much more beautiful if we had gone a couple of weeks ago when the leaves were still changing colors.

Overall, we spent about an hour hiking up and back down Kennesaw Mountain Road.  We were limited on time due to the crankiness of having young children.  You could spend a lot longer exploring the different trails in the area.

The nearest restaurant is BaseCamp at Kennesaw Mountain, which serves breakfast and lunch.  If you take a short drive, there are plenty of other options available and you will certainly be able to find something that sounds appetizing.

The nearest hotels are the Hilton Atlanta, Holiday Inn Express, and the Stanley House Inn.  The Stanley House Inn is a bed and breakfast that has a history associated with family of President Woodrow Wilson.

Overall, we had an enjoyable trip to Kennesaw Mountain.  This is not a park that I would recommend spending multiple days at.  While it is great to hike the trails, there is no camping available and no other things to do in the park itself.  It would be best visited as part of a larger trip to the general Atlanta area.