Gold Mine Branch Falls (5 falls)

5/8/2011 - went back to Fort Mountain State Park to get better pictures and GPS points.  Had a better look at the creek and realized that it's more or less one big, long cascade down the mountain below the falls I've labeled #1, but you just can't get down safely to see the creek below this falls.

11/22/2010 Went to Fort Mountain State Park to see these falls, on the nature trail below the lake.  The trail is listed as 3/4 miles long, but didn't seem quite that long to me.  It's not a groomed nature trail, it's rocky and narrow in places, but not bad.  About half-way around there's a nice spot to see out over the valley...though in summer it might be blocked by leaves.

Naturally, since I started at the sign for the nature trail, the falls were almost at the other end!  There is a small one, than a gap, then a longer one.  On this day there wasn't much water, so my description for the falls is "cute."  Maybe with more water coming down they are more like a "real" falls, but on this day it was only just a little more than a trickle, so the falls were a long series of tiny falls and pools stair-stepping down the hill. 

GPS: 34°45'34"N 84°42'43"W
GPS: 34°45'34"N 84°42'41"W

GPS: 34°45'34"N 84°42'40"W

GPS: 34°45'34"N 84°42'41"W

Directions and Information: can be found at http://www.gastateparks.org/FortMountain
Note: The falls are on the nature trail and are at the end closest to the lake.  The shortest way to get to them is to walk towards the lake from the parking area, and then take the trail down beside the creek.