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

Saturday, May 3, 2014

FS 44 (17 falls)

5/3/2014 - nice day, and I didn't feel like sitting around the house...so I drove down FS 42 to Horse Trough falls and got one of the roadside falls on the way.  Not really the best time to do that as the trees were in leaf and made it harder to see the falls.  FS 44 has been closed past the entrance to the campground since the tornadoes of 2011 and is still closed.  I haven't tried driving in from the Helen end to see how far you can get...have to do that someday!

3/20/2011 - had a fabulous day of waterfalling today!  Went down FS 44 from the Unicoi Gap end to get new photos of a road-side falls and Horse Trough Falls, that I've been to before; and to try for the falls on the Upper Chattahoochee River.

Having learned a few things over these months of searching for waterfalls, I drove down the Forest Service road with my windows open and that's how I found so many waterfalls that I didn't even know where there.  Some of them are small, others are spectacularly large. 

Mileages are from the begining of FS 44

Creek names below (or no names) from from GMAPS

#27 - unnamed falls, which is also shown with Horse Trough Falls elsewhere on this blog
#177 - this is actually the first falls you pass, but you can't see it from the road.  You have to walk past the "first" one and then look back and below the road to see this one
GPS 34°47'54"N 83°44'49"W .2 miles (Upper Spoilcane Creek Falls)

#178 & 179 - this falls starts uphill above the road, crosses the road through a pipe, then continues down hill.  Since it is split by the road I counted it as 2 falls...but actually, from the angle of the mountain that can be seen as you approach these falls - it's probably more or less one great, long cascade to the bottom.
GPS 34°47'42"N 83°44'59"W .6 miles (unnamed branch, flows into Spoilcane Creek)


#180 - this is one that is not visible as you drive down the road, but you can hear it.  It is visible from the edge of the road - and maybe it's visible if you are driving in the opposite direction from the one I drove today.
GPS 34°47'10"N 83°46'11"W 3.3 miles (Wilks Creek)


#181 - this one is just a short way below falls #180
GPS 34°47'11"N 83°46'14"W 3.3 miles  (Wilks Creek)


#182 - and this one is just a short way below #181
GPS 34°47'10"N 83°46'12"W 3.3 miles (Wilks Creek)


#183 - it's very difficult to see the falls in this picture.  When you are there, the moving water catches your eye - but in a still photo it's pretty nearly invisible
GPS 34°47'11"N 83°46'38"W 3.8 mi (Wilks Creek)


#26 - Horse Trough Falls (also pictured elsewhere in this blog)
GPS 34°47'32"N 83°47'11"W (unnamed creek, flows into the Chattahoochee River)


Upper Chattahoochee River falls
#184 - Lower Falls GPS 34°47'37"N 83°47'8"W
#185 - Middle Falls GPS 34°47'39"N 83°47'8"W
#186 - Upper Chattahoochee Falls GPS 34°47'41"N 83°47'8"W



Mileages starting here are from the campground road junction with FS 44

#187 - in the picture this falls looks small and as if it's almost at your feet, but actually it's quite big and a good way down the hill.  This one is not visible from road but like several others, you can hear it.
GPS 34°46'43"N 83°46'53"W
1.2 miles


#188 - this falls is not visible from the road, but it can be heard.  To see it, you have to scramble down the hill and through the rhododendren growth until you are almost in the creek.
GPS (parking) 34°46'48"N 83°46'59"W
GPS (falls) 34°46'46"N 83°47'0"W
1.4 miles


#189 - this one is distantly visible from the road and is pretty small.  There's a sizable camping spot right after you cross the bridge and you can park there and walk upstream to get closer
GPS (parking) 34°45'31"N 83°46'56"W
GPS (falls) 34°45'35"N 83°46'58"W
4.6 miles


#190 - I don't know how in the world I missed seeing this one the last couple of times I've been on FS 44.  It is spectacular and becomes suddenly visible as you come around a curve in the road.  It's so tall I couldn't get all of it in the photo.  To see all of it takes some manuevering.  Walk back up the road, and even move back and forth to see the parts very high up that are easily hidden behind the trees.
GPS 34°44'49"N 83°46'48"W
6.9 miles


#191 - this is a small falls that is right beside the road.
GPS 34°44'32"N 83°46'28"W
7.6 miles



Directions & Information: from Cleveland, GA
  • north on US 129
  • east on Alt GA 75 - to end
  • north on GA 17/75
  • left on FS 44 (before Unicoi Gap, if you get to gap you've gone too far)
  • for Horse Trough Falls & the Upper Chattahoochee Falls
    • at T-junction where FS 44 turns back south (to the left)
    • right on gravel road FS 44D (my map program says Poplar Stump Road)
    • continue through campground to parking area
    • Horse Trough Falls is a short hike from the day use parking, across the bridge
    • Upper Chattahoochee Falls is upstream and the trail is just before the bridge
 Note: the falls are in the order I saw them traveling down FS 44 from just south of Unicoi Gap.  The trail to the Upper Chattahoochee Falls is not obvious right at the bridge, but just walk upstream and you will see it.  It's not very long, but is narrow and washed out in places - but I made it will little trouble.  It's not blazed, and does not appear to have had any maintenance done lately - but the blow-downs were easy to negotiate.  It ends at a rock wall, and you have to just about get in the river and then look upstream to see the upper falls.

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