What this is all about

I like to hike, and I belong to a womens hiking group called "TrailDames" - one of our hikes took us to a waterfall just over the border in South Carolina. This got me interested in finding waterfalls nearby and earlier this year I found a website with directions and photos of waterfalls in North Georgia at (see links for TrailDames & North Georgia Waterfalls below)

I now also belong to another womens hiking group called Off the Grid. Both OTG and Traildames are on Meetup.

Mr. Anthony's site has lovely photos of well over 100 waterfalls in North Georgia and I got interested in seeing them. As the weather got hotter through the summer I concentrated on shorter hikes to falls, and falls that were visible from the road. Then, as it started to get cooler again, I started doing longer hikes. It turned out to be far more fun than I expected it to be, and to my surprise - when I added them up - I had been to over 100 myself!

So I decided to make a record of them and of what it's like to visit them, in case anyone else is interested in seeing them too. I will be adding photos and directions, trail conditions, etc. in the future. As I "redo" falls I will update the page that already exists for them, instead of creating a new page every time. Keeping with the format of this blog site, I will put new information at the top of each existing page.

I won't be putting road mileages on the directions, I strongly urge you to compare my directions to a good map so you can see the distances for yourself. I'm not very good at guessing distances, so if I can find a trail length I will use that. If I'm guessing, I'll put a question mark so you'll know!

My apologies for the "watermarks" on the photos, but I have had...and know other people who have had...photos stolen off the net. The watermarks are to ensure that they can't be reused without being identified as mine.

I got a good GPS unit and I'll slowly be putting GPS coordinates for the falls, when I can. If I can get close to the falls the GPS will be for the falls. Otherwise, it will be for where you can see them most easily.

Nov 2012: I got a new PC and now that I can actually get things done (!) I'm going to rearrange the way the falls are listed. I'm going to list them separately, instead of grouping them by the day I saw them. The only ones I'll group are the ones that are on the same creek, or very close - like on the same road.

I've completed rearranging the posts. Hopefully this will help make the falls easier to find. I also found my count was WAY off, so I've updated the total too.

Jan 2013 - I just got a video camera, so I'll be adding short videos of the falls as I am able to get back to them. They might be a bit shakey at first, but hopefully I'll get better as I get used to using it!

Jan 2014 - I almost forgot about posting this! I had been in contact with Sharon Collins, the host of GPB's "Georgia Outdoors"...offering to take her around my 18 Waterfalls tour. She was not able to make it, but I did take her cameraman Shane Keating on the tour. I was hoping they'd do a show about the tour, but that didn't happen. However, some of the shots did show up in the episode "Mountain Magic"...so I've added a link to that episode.

Aug 2015 - I've created a Google map of the waterfalls I either have been to, or know about as publicly accessable, check it out at: https://goo.gl/maps/79Lyb

Got some additional news. The episode of Georgia Outdoors mentioned above, that has some of the shots taken by the cameraman on my 18 Wateralls tour...won a 2015 Southeastern Emmy for "Magazine Program" http://www.gpb.org/emmys

Total Falls

Total waterfalls as of 6/7/2015: 504
Total videos as of 6/7/2015: 180

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Glen Falls

3/21/2015 - when I went to Lula Lakes a couple of weeks ago someone told me this falls was FINALLY flowing!  So I had to go see.  There wasn't a lot of water, and some I met said it had been more a couple of weeks ago...but at least there WAS water this time.  I also found that there a couple of slightly smaller falls below the main falls.  The main falls flows through a narrow crack in the rocks and there really isn't a good view of it from the trail..but just past the bridge, and a bit uphill there a set of rock steps that go up above the pool and probably give a much better view...but I was not up to doing that climb with no one else around, since my balance isn't very good.  So I did the best I could from the trail!

 Because there is a clear separation between the 2 falls below Glen Falls, I counted them as 2 separate falls.

 Mr. Anthony's website says this falls is in Walker County Ga, just barely over the border...but the GPS put's it well on the TN side.  And the Google maps does not show any water just over the border, but does show an unnamed creek just where the GPS puts the falls.

 9/4/2010 - I had planned to do 3 falls up in the far NE corner of GA, but only had time to do 2 of them - this one and Lula Lakes Falls
Glen Falls is so near the GA/TN border that you actually get to it by going through Chattanooga to Lookout Mountain and then hike in to the falls.  There's no sign to tell you you've crossed into GA but the GPS location shows that you have.
The day I went there was not actually any water flowing.  It had been very dry and waterfalls that are high up on a mountain are very dependent on recent rain.  It's a pleasant enough hike, not too long - though there were several blow-downs to negotiate.  Even if there's no water, the rock formations are quite interesting enough to be worth the hike if you are in the area.

Until I get get back to get a picture with water, here's what it looks like with NO water!
Because I have not ever seen this with water flowing over, I'm including it here, but not counting it as a waterfall I've seen.
GPS:
Parking: 34.99217°N 85.34083°W
Lower Falls: 34.98774°N 85.34211°W
Glen Falls: 34.98744°N 85.34253°W




Directions and Information: from Dalton, Ga
  • north on I-75 to Chattanooga
  • wets on I-24
  • south on exit 178/Lookout Mountain/Market Street
  • left at Broad Street
  • at split bear left onto Tennessee Ave (Cumming Highway is )on the right)
  • right on Ochs Highway (Lookout Moutain)
  • After Sanders Road comes in from the right (sign to Ruby Falls), there is a pull-off to the left in about 200 yards. This is the parking for the trail. 
Note: on Mr Anthony's site he has a picture of a sign mentioning Glen Falls Trail, but when I was there I didn't see any such sign
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