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What’s the best route between the two parks? If you’re on a bike or walking in the Atlanta suburb of Suwanee, then it’s the Suwanee Creek Greenway. The 3.1-mile trail runs from Suwanee Creek Park on cement pavement and boardwalk to the southern section of George Pierce Park.
The city is known for its parks, and the greenway connects two nicely wooded ones. Suwanee Creek Park, an 85-acre city-operated facility, features an 18-hole disc golf course and a 19-point orienteering course. The county-managed George Pierce Park covers 304 acres with sports fields, a fishing pond, and a senior center. Both have restrooms.
The greenway is popular not only for its natural setting but also for crossing traffic only once along its length. Much of the route is swampy, which is why there are segments on boardwalks. You may see deer along the edge of the forest, turtles sunning themselves on logs, or small fish in the shallow water.
About the Route
Starting from Suwanee Creek Park, the trail leaves the park but stays in the woods as it picks up the north side of the creek. It crosses a couple of wet areas on a boardwalk before it passes beneath McGinnis Ferry Road in about a mile. Immediately after the underpass, the trail route climbs up a ramp up to McGinnis Ferry Road, crosses the creek on the bridge, then descends to the south side of the creek on another ramp. Trail users can take a 1-mile loop around Berry Lake on a connecting trail after returning to the Suwanee Creek Greenway.
Rolling on, the greenway takes another boardwalk through a swampy section of woods and crosses Martin Farm Road in 0.8 miles. After another 0.6 mile of forest, the greenway passes beneath GA 317/Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road. Just before the underpass, a spur trail heads north to Portland Trail Drive and Suwanee Town Center, which boasts restaurants, a performance stage and amphitheater, and a large fountain. The city’s Suwanee Fest occurs here on the third weekend of September.
Emerging from the underpass, the greenway heads east for 0.2 miles to a junction. The right fork comes to a trailhead behind an elementary school in 0.1 mile. The left fork crosses the creek into George Pierce Park, where it continues 0.8 miles to an array of sports fields.
Trail History
Suwanee Creek is a tributary of the Chattahoochee River, which flows along the western city limits. The town was once a village of the Shawnee and later the Cherokee and Creek peoples. European settlement started in the early 1800s, and the town further grew and developed with the arrival of the railroad. Its population has exploded in the past 40 years.
The Suwanee Creek Greenway runs between Suwanee Creek Park, 1170 Buford Hwy (Suwanee), and George Pierce Park, 55 Buford Hwy NE (Suwanee), with parking at both ends.
Additional parking is available along McGinnis Ferry Rd. and at Martin Farm Park. These are unofficial addresses.
Please see the TrailLink Map for all parking options and detailed directions.
What a pleasant surprise to ride this trail. It was my last day in Georgia and wanted to ride one more time before heading back north. It was an extremely hot day, being on mostly a tree covered trail, it was quite comfortable.
I love the Suwanee Creek Greenway. I used to live close by George Pierce Park and I would either walk or ride the entire length of the trail and back. It's the best exercise. It's long enough to get in 20,000 steps in for the day and short enough to get in tons of miles on the bike with multiple trips. The boardwalks are great over the swampy areas and during the reptile mating season, it's cool to stop on the bridge heading south before you get to Sugarloaf Pkwy and watch the snake gathering along the stream of water coming from the community pond. There are no steep climbs for either walking or riding. The hills are near Suwanee Creek Park and the rest is relatively flat.
Rolling hills, woods, water it’s all here but NOT for true bike rides or skates. Tree debris is on the pavement. Too narrow for bikes and the road swerves in and out. Perfect for nature walk.
If you love the stream and woods hearing the sounds of birds etc this place is for you!!
Truly enjoyed a nice 3.75 mile jog through this trail not too far from my hotel while I was visiting from Charleston, SC
What an awesome trail. Entire trail either paved or boardwalk. Mostly shaded. Even on this hot day, 90, rather cool. Beautiful scenary. The creek/swamp could be a negative for some, but I enjoyed seeing the deer and ducks.
A couple hills, especially starting/finishing at the Suwannee parking lot. A good challenge.
Saw several couple bikers, runners and walkers.
One of the best suggestions I have found on Trail Link.
So once again, if in the area and want to get some miles in, make a point to stop here. You really should enjoy it.
I found this trail difficult because of the steep hills and sharp curves. I had to ride my brakes downhill many times to avoid a crash at the bottom. Instarted at the park at the south end and went 2 miles and turned back.
The trail was awesome, let's just get that out of the way!
New to the Ga. area and first time riding on the trail...I was Jacked!
The path, the scenery, people actually slide over "when you say, on your left" all are great!
My downfall (and that's just me) the trail isn't clearly marked.
As I was riding, hit a 3 way split...to the right deadend back of a school yard. Slightly to left & up a slight ramp and then left turn to what seems to be out to the busy street. Hard left, sharp right, up a slight ramp back on the trail. Rolling along, then the trail turned off right and up over bridge, (I didn't and didn't know) I found myself on a different trail and riding along side a few soccer fields and a nice challenging hill.
All in all...the ride is awesome, put in approx. 10 mi. total.
I truly recommend it!
Very good trail, long distance, goes all the way from Suwanee Greenway to George Pierce Park, about 6 miles or so.
SuwaneeCreek and Ivy Creek Greenways are the closest trails for Suwanee and Buford residents. Connecting both trails would make it the best trail in the Northeast Atlanta area. We need longer trails to provide for safe place for our communities to enjoy the outdoors and keep/get fit and stay healthy.
Let's invest in better quality of life and ways to accomplish it! Connect the trails, make them 5 STARS!!!
Just 5 mins into the trail from the George Pierce Park end the concrete trail leads you into a path where small trees are the only thing surrounding you. Instantly hooked, this trail gives you everything small to large hills smooth to sharp turns. Only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars is because it was only 4 miles long. Great trail expect to be back soon and many times after that.
I live close enough to this trail to drive to any access point in under 15 minutes, with the Martin Farm Road access being within 5 minutes. Because of this, the SCG has been one of my most frequently used trails for both walking and cycling. The description on this site is quite accurate and this is an enjoyable trail. In addition to the three parks directly on the trail, there is also a spur that connects to within a couple of blocks of Suwanee's Town Center Park, where they have great events year-round. SCG is a very safe trail given its suburban location, and your fellow users are generally a friendly and courteous bunch.
The trail itself is easy to access and very user-friendly. The scenery is great, and this includes wildlife. At various times and places along the SCG I have observed birds, squirrels, chipmunks, snakes (sunning themselves on rocks off-trail...fear not!), turtles, deer, beaver, lizards...and I'm sure that I've left some out! Lots of dogs get walked on this trail too, so if you love dogs you'll be right at home. The north end has more wetland areas which include boardwalks and even an observation platform over water. Speaking of wetlands, the section between Martin Farm Road and Lawrenceville-Suwanee road was rebuilt in 2012-13 to raise certain portions so that trail-flooding is less of a problem.
One great thing about this trail is that there are enough miles to get a good outing, with level enough elevation that anybody can enjoy it. I'm returning to cycling in my mid-40s and I'm way out of shape, but I can do a full round-trip of the entire SCG plus some without trouble (I've done up to 10 miles back-and-forth on SCG and only stopped then because it was getting dark). My workout tracker app tells me that the trail has something like 230 feet of elevation change, and spread over 4+ miles that's easy to handle. No grades are long or steep.
This trail is great in all seasons too, as nature gives you something to appreciate year-round. One notable highlight is that there is a part in the southern half that goes alongside a small swampy marsh and in the evening in the springtime the toadfrogs in this marsh can get so loud that you almost can't hear yourself think! Their chorus is really something to behold, so check it out if you love nature's shows.
Overall this is a really great trail that I enjoy frequently and highly recommend.
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