The lower falls is MUCH more impressive "in person" than it is in my photo. Give the scope and size of the entire falls complex, this is a truly spectacular falls!
10/1/2011 - getting around to this update a bit late! I went back to the shortcut to Panther Creek Falls again to see if I could find where I went wrong the last time. I went slowly and realized I had missed a hard left turn. Followed the trail to another hard left, and that one brought me out on the main trail along Panther Creek, just above the falls. It's a long, steep down hill, so I went slowly...but even so, I was a bit shakey by the time I got to the creek.
The falls are even more spectacular than photos show. It's actually a 4 stage waterfall with a cascade at the top, then a slot falls that is so narrow at one place you can easily step across the entire creek, then a 2 stage sliding falls. WELL worth the trip!
My pictures didn't turn out, except for one of the cascade at the top. Guess I'll have to go back again!
As I was hiking back out and got to the top of the ridge, I found that someone had put a huge arrow pointing to the left, made out of small logs and branches. I totally missed it on my way in! It's a bit hard to see in the photo, but it must be a good 8-10 feet long! Don't know how in the world I missed it going in.
GPS: 34°40'35"N 83°23'15"W (upper)
GPS: 34°40'21"N 83°23'7"W (lower, no picture yet)
5/21/2011 - went back to Panther Creek to get better pictures and GPS points. Still didn't make it to the Panther Creek Falls. It's just too far for me to get there and back in one day. Someday though! I did get a picture of a sliding falls that I had missed before. And I realized that there are maybe 6-7 places along the creek where it sounds like there might be a falls, or at least a very noisy shoals, but you just can't see the creek due to the rhododendron, azalea, and mountain laurel bushes along the bank.
I did get to the first big falls, which the GPS said is at 3.15 miles, and got a better picture of that, but the best place to see and photograph it is from the top of the rocky area a little further downstream. And the flowers were just blooming everywhere!
5/23/2010 I've been trying to get to the Panther Creek Falls for years. For many years I couldn't get there because the trail went up and over a 15 foot cliff. It wasn't so much that I couldn't get up as it was that I was afraid of coming down. The trail at that point is very narrow and on the edge of a steep hill down to the creek. I could just envision, only too clearly, coming down and not being able to balance and just continuing right down the hill!
GPS: 34°41'51"N 83°24'46"W
GPS: 34°40'40"N 83°23'55"W
Directions and Information: from Cornelia, GA
- north on GA 365/US 23/US 441
- US 441 joins at Baldwin/Cornelia
- north on US 441 towards Tallulah Falls
- left on Glen Hardman Rd
- right on Old US 441 (my map shows this as county rd 648)
- at turn into Panther Creek picnic area there is parking on the right that is free
- trail is across creek - headed downstream
Note: the falls are at about the 3.5 mile point, I've never actually been there. Parts of the trail need care as you have to duck under large overhanging rocks. The trail goes to a T-junction at the bottom of the hill about 1/4 (?) mile from the start and is not marked, but the trail you want goes to the left. The shoals/falls in my picture is at 3.15 miiles. At a point about 1 mile there is a bridge across the creek, and the trail continues on the other side of the creek from the starting side.
Directions and Information: from Cornelia, GA - shortcut
Directions and Information: from Cornelia, GA - shortcut
- north on GA 365/US 23/US 441
- US 441 joins at Baldwin/Cornelia
- north on US 441 towards Tallulah Falls
- right on John Wood Rd
- at 4 way stop, continue straight on Camp Yonah Rd
- at 2.4 miles, look for cleared area on right, park here
- trail is across road - at power pole GPS: 34°40'11"N 83°23'7"W
Note: the trail is fairly easy downhill. Just after narrow ridge crossing, there is a sharp left turn at GPS: 34°40'28"N 83°23'7"W (this is where the big arrow was located the day I was there) and the trail begins a long, steep downhill, then another sharp left at GPS: 34°40'28"N 83°23'7"W and it meets the main trail at GPS: 34°40'33"N 83°23'14"W
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