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, June 9, 2013

Helton Creek Falls (3 falls)

6/8/2013 - took advantage of the beautiful day to go up over Blood Mtn to film Helton Creek Falls.  I couldn't get the lower falls from the same place as in the still photo...it was under water! So I took the best angle I could from the trail down.

 7/1/2011 - took half a day off today, and went up to Helton Creek Falls again.  There's been a LOT of storm damage up there, many big trees came down - maybe 5 or 6, or more.  They've all been cut up and moved aside, so the trail is clear - but you can't get onto the deck for the upper falls.  It was badly damaged by a falling tree and is currently closed.  Note: the deck has been repaired and is now open

I then drove the rest of the way down the Forest Service road and found there is a small waterfall at the ford across Helton Creek, not too far from Helton Creek Falls.  Didn't see any other falls after that.

8/8/2010 This is a double falls and is very near, and mostly visible from, the road. It's down what looks like a private community drive - but the road turns to gravel and is a Forest Service Road. There's a nice sized parking area. This is a popular falls and has a short trail to the base of the lower falls where you can get right in the water. The trail then continues up to a viewing platform for the upper falls

GPS: 34°45'11"N 83°53'41"W
GPS: 34°45'10"N 83°53'43"W
GPS: 34°45'10"N 83°53'15"W



These pictures show some of the damage done at Helton Creek Falls in the tornadoes of 2011



Directions and Information: from Cleveland, GA
  • north on US 129, past junction with US19
  • continue past Neel's Gap
  • right on Helton Creek Rd
  • continue through residential area, road will become gravel
  • parking area is on the right
Note: the road through the residential area is narrow, so be wary.  The drive will seem longer than it is, but the parking area is very obvious.  If you come to a "wet foot" creek crossing, you've gone too far!  Falls can be seen from the road, but there is a short trail downhill, across a small branch, and then uphill to the upper falls.
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