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, July 24, 2011

Laural Falls (6 falls)

7/24/2011 - my sister and I went to Kingwood to see these falls.  She hadn't seen them before.  I got some pictures of the other falls on the creek, but because the leaves are so lush this time of the year they're hard to see.  I'll have to go back in the fall and see if I can get better photos.

1/2/2011 Went back to Kingwood Golf Course to get better pictures of Laural Falls.  It was such a nice day, I went slowly and was able to pay more attention to the creek.  There are at least 3 other waterfalls, and possible 2 more as well.  As you walk up the logging road you can distinctly hear one falls after another get louder and then softer as the next one begins to get louder.  I was able to get pictures of a small, natural falls below an old dam and of a big waterfall that is before Laural Falls. 

Between that big waterfall and Laural Falls there is at least one other that can be seen, but not very clearly and from the sound there may be another between that one and the big falls.  Below the big falls there is one upstream of the still water behind the old dam.  But I just couldn't get good pictures of the two that I was able to see - but I'm going to count them anyway!

It's a real shame someone doesn't make a creekside trail as it would be a nice hike up the creek from one falls to another!

GPMAPS doesn't show a name for either of these creeks, but the one with Laral Falls flows into another unnamed creek that flows into Chechero Creek

11/7/2010 Laural Falls is on the grounds of Kingwood Golf Course in Clayton, GA.  While I was there some kind people told me about a falls that can be seen from, of all places, the trash compactor site just up hwy 76 from the golf course!

This is up an old logging road behind the golf course.   Actually, not too far up this logging road there is another falls visible down the hill...but I couldn't get a good angle for a photo, and it was a bit too steep for me to try to get close.  Have to try this one again, and anyway my photos on this day did not turn out very well...so I need to redo them all.
GPS: 34°51'37"N 83°21'51"W

 
GPS: 34°51'41"N 83°21'52"W
GPS: 34°51'43"N 83°21'50"W


 
GPS: 34°51'45"N 83°21'48"W
GPS: 34°51'46"N 83°21'43"W

 
GPS: 34°51'48"N 83°21'41"W (on unnamed side creek)


 
Directions and Information: from Clayton, GA 
  • go east on US 76
  • watch on the left for Kingwood Golf Course
  • drive up to the guest lodge and let them know you are there
Note: the desk attendant can give you a map to the falls.  You have to walk up a paved road and where it splits into a V you take the upper/left hand road.  The paving ends at the last house and becomes an unpaved logging road.  Immediately past the last house, look down into the valley and you will see an old dam with a small, natural falls below it.  A better view of this falls is down the right-hand paved road at the bottom of the hill.

Continue up the old road and through a gate.  Just past this gate the road curves away from the creek and there is a wooded, but somewhat open area.  When I was there, there were several long green pipes laying at the top of this area and a faint trail/old road ran beside them.  If you follow this down until it ends, then bushwhack down to the creek you come out at the top of the still water behind the dam.  Upstream of this is another falls, but I couldn't get a good angle for a photo

 Part way up this road there is a fork - take the right-hand road, and that is the one that goes to the falls.  There is a sign here pointing to the falls and if you look down into the valley you will see a big, white-water falls - but not very clearly.  This is not Laural Falls!  Upstream of this falls you will hear maybe another one, and then above that again, there is another one that is smaller and even harder to see, but you can clearly hear it and if you look carefully you'll see it.

Continue until you cross the wooden bridge at the confluence of the creek and a small branch.  Laural Falls is to the left, upstream on the creek.

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