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 29, 2015

Long Creek Falls (6 falls)

3/28/2015 - went back to these falls with another member of Off the Grid.  This time I remembered my tripod...but I'm still not really happy with the videos.  I didn't even try to get one of them, because it's down a steep bank and I wasn't sure I could get back up.  And somehow or other I totally missed one!  Plus I couldn't really get a good one of Long Creek Falls itself because there were so many people there.  Have to try again, maybe on a weekday when there won't be so many people around.

3/22/2014 - took a small Meetup group to see these falls, and took off and forgot my tripod!  So I couldn't really get good videos.  Will have to go back.  I was able to hold the camera steady against a tree for Long Creek Falls, so at least i got that one.

2/23/2012 - took some TrailDames to see Long Creek Falls.  Got pictures of some of the other falls too.  FINALLY getting around to getting the photos updated!

Heck...on posting the new photos, it looks like I missed a couple that last time I was there.  Looks like I'll have to go back yet again and pay more attention.

5/28/2011 - went back to Long Creek Falls so my sister could see the falls, and to get pictures and GPS points.  Also got some pictures of other falls downstream of Long Creek Falls.  From the sound of it, there might be as many as 5 or 6 other falls, but you can't see some of them...and the ones you can see are pretty distant from the trail   Sometimes all you can see is just a glimpse of the moving water.  I got the best pictures I could of the ones that you can see, but of course the view is much better when you are there!

There is at least one other falls that has a side trail to it, but I had been down to it before and couldn't get a good shot, and this time I thought I could get the same falls from further down.  That turned out to be wrong and I didn't have time to climb back up and get what I could, so I'll have to go back again one day and get it!

The falls #2 is actually the bottom of a 3 part falls, but the bottom was the only part that would really photograph even close to well.

9/18/2010 This falls is just off the Appalachian Trail a few miles from the start at Springer Mountain, but there is a Forest Service road that is closer and the hike from there - at the Three Forks area - is about a mile.  Being a mountain trail it's on the steep side, but not too difficult. 

From the parking at this point, Mr. Anthony says "Follow the Appalachian trail 1 mile north to a short side trail to Long Creek Falls" but if you aren't good at directions, like me, it's not as clear as it could be!  You cross the road away from the bridge over the creek and start uphill there.  There's a sign that mentions the falls, but you don't see it until you're away from the road.  When you get near the falls, there's a sign for them.

I found another website that mentions several other falls on the way up and I did see the side trails they mentioned, and even tried one...but they are steep and not maintained and since I was alone, I didn't push my luck on them.  I want to try them again when I have some company.

GPS: 34°40'2"N 84°10'39"W
GPS: 34°40'1"N 84°10'35"W
GPS: 34°40'1"N 84°10'33"W
GPS: 34°40'1"N 84°10'27"W
GPS: 34°40'2"N 84°10'23"W










These 2 photos are both Long Creek Falls.  The first makes it look like the 2 sections are closer to each other than they are, so I included the 2nd just to show a better overall view.
GPS: 34°40'3"N 84°10'14"W


http://www.jjanthony.com/waterfalls/falls/longcreekfalls.html
Directions and Information: from East Ellijay, GA
  • go east on GA 52
  • turn left on Roy Rd (drive carefully, there is a sharp curve on this road)
  • turn right on Doublehead Gap Rd
  • turn right on Noontootla Rd (this is after Doublehead Gap Rd paving ends) - this is FS 58
  • Watch for sign indicating Appalachian Trail crosses road - this is the Three Forks area
  • park and go down old logging road on opposite side of road from bridge across creek, there is a sign at the start that mention the falls - falls is marked by a sign about 1 mi up trail
Note: if you watch carefully as you hike, you'll see signs of several side trails down to creek.  At least 2 of these lead to falls
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