Closure first: the Forest Service closed Lake Conasauga Campground until further notice on September 23, 2026, after a water main break in the site's aging public water system left it unable to provide flushable toilets or safe drinking water under state and federal guidelines. The Conasauga Ranger District has not posted a separate closure notice for the picnic and swim site across the lake, but the same failed water system serves the restrooms there, so call the district at 706-695-6736 before making the drive. A second complication sits on the approach. The first unpaved half mile of Old CCC Camp Road, also signed as Forest Service Road 18, is closed to through traffic from September 8 into November while paving crews work the stretch that runs alongside Holly Creek.

What all of that guards is a 19 acre lake sitting at 3,150 feet on the shoulder of Grassy Mountain in Murray County, the highest lake in Georgia. The Civilian Conservation Corps finished building it in 1940, and the name comes from a Cherokee word meaning grass. This is Lake Conasauga the lake, a small spring fed impoundment at the head of Mill Creek. It is not the Conasauga River, a separate and far better known waterway down in the valley with its own swimming spots and its own Forest Service sites. The recreation area also sits outside the Cohutta Wilderness boundary, so the stricter wilderness rules that govern trails like Rough Ridge do not apply at the lake itself.

Swimming here is a designated setup rather than a scramble down a bank. The picnic and swim area occupies the shore opposite the campground and includes a shelter, tables, and a swimming dock that puts you straight into cold spring water. No lifeguard works the site. The water stays genuinely cold deep into summer because of the elevation, which is most of the appeal in a Georgia July, and the lake is small enough that you can see the far bank from the dock.

The Forest Service charges a day use fee at what it lists as the Lake Conasauga Recreation Area Family Picnic and Swimming Area. The forest does not publish an exact figure for this particular site and states only that single day use fees across the Chattahoochee-Oconee range from $3 to $15 or more. The $25 Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests Annual Pass is valid here and covers day use at the listed fee sites, Lake Conasauga among them. An America the Beautiful Interagency pass is accepted at Lake Conasauga, but read what the forest actually says about it: that pass entitles the holder to a 50 percent discount on camping at one campsite, and the forest states plainly that the National Forest Annual Pass is a different pass from the Interagency pass. Do not assume an Interagency pass erases the day use charge.

Getting there is the other half of the story, because every approach finishes on gravel Forest Service road. From Chatsworth the route runs north on U.S. 411 about three miles to Eton, then right onto Old CCC Camp Road, onto Forest Service Road 18, and up to Forest Service Road 68 for the last four or five miles. From Ellijay the approach uses GA 52 to Gates Chapel Road, then Forest Service Road 90 to the stop sign and right onto FSR 68. Trailers over 15 feet are not recommended on Forest Service Roads 630 and 17 because of sharp curves and steep grades, and visitors towing travel trailers are directed to come in from the Ellijay side. The posted season runs from mid April through October 31, with openings sometimes pushed later by water line problems. Forest Roads 68 and 17 shut for the winter, roughly early January into mid March, because the freeze and thaw cycle at this elevation turns the roadbed soft and rutted. Bears are active around the lake and the district puts real emphasis on food storage.