Rabun Bald, in northeastern Georgia near Sky Valley, rises 4,696 feet and is the state’s second-highest peak as well as the tallest mountain in its county. Its summit offers wide views, with an observation tower providing sightlines of more than 100 miles on clear days. A standard route is the 5.8-mile round-trip Rabun Bald Trail, which connects with the 37-mile Bartram Trail crossing the summit. The mountain is also tied to Native American legend about fire-breathing demon people and to early forest fire detection: Nick Nicholson, Georgia’s first forest ranger, built the area’s first fire tower there, later replaced by today’s wooden observation platform after Forest Service use ended in the early 1970s.