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)

http://www.jjanthony.com/waterfalls/falls/horsetroughfalls.html

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

http://www.jjanthony.com/waterfalls/falls/chattahoochee.html

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.