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, June 18, 2011

Tray Mtn Rd & Indian Grave Gap Rd (7 falls)

6/18/2011 - did a long drive across the Tray Mtn area on FS 698-Corbin Creek Rd and then down Tray Mtn Rd again.  Got a picture of the sliding falls.

Creek names (or no names) shown below are from GMAPS

4/9/2011 - drove a long, roundabout route today to find new falls.  Still using my "windows open" technique.  Drove Tray Mtn Rd, Indian Grave Gap Rd, and Hwy 180.  Tray Mtn Rd and Indian Grave Gap Rd turned out to be pretty high up on the mountain and pretty much dry for most of their length, but I did find a few roadside falls.

On Tray Mtn Rd I found one falls I could just barely see (no picture), but it counts!   Then a very short way upstream of that is a nice, sliding falls that is the same stream.  At 2.0 miles from the beginning of the road at Hwy 17/75 north of Helen, it sounds like there's quite a big falls, but the rhododendrens are so thick you can't even glimpse the water.

Mileages are from the beginning of Tray Mtn Rd, via Indian Grave Gap Rd to the end of that road.  I forgot to reset my odometer for Hwy 180, so no mileages for that road.
GPS: 34°44'37"N 83°44'2"W  2.3 mi (unnamed branch)


Indian Grave Gap Rd branches off of Tray Mtn Rd and goes through to Hwy 17/75 north of Unicoi Gap.  This is the same road you take to get to the High Shoals Scenic Area, where there are also falls.  On this road I found 2 roadside falls, and from the sound of it - at the 2nd one - the stream continues down the mountain as a long series of cascades, but you can't really see them.

Both of these are on quite small streams, and most likely will be dry in an extended period with no rain.
GPS: 34°47'56"N 83°43'7"W  7.2 mi (unnamed branch)
GPS: 34°48'14"N 83°43'14"W  7.6 mi (unnamed branch)


Once I got back to Hwy 17/75 I went north a short way and drove west on Hwy 180.  Found several falls right by the road, but again some of them might be dry during an extended period with no rain...especially #2 & #3.  Falls #1 is on private property, but is right beside the road.

GPS: 34°50'2"N 83°44'27"W (unnamed branch, flows into Soapstone Creek)
GPS: 34°50'11"N 83°46'2"W (unnamed branch)


Falls 3 is very close to, and just before, the entrance to Enota Mountain Retreat  (http://www.enota.com/), on the other side of the road.

Falls 4 can be heard from the road, but not seen.  There is a large, open area on the left and at the top (western edge) you can bushwhack a short way down to the stream and come out beside the falls.  The day I was there, there was a long, smallish log pointing towards the stream and I was able to follow this to the falls.
GPS:  34°50'15"N 83°46'7"W (Soapstone Creek)
GPS: 34°51'1"N 83°46'48"W (Soapstone Creek)


Directions and Information: from Helen, GA
  • north on Hwy 17/75
  • about 3/4 mi north of Alt 75 (on the left), Tray Mountain Rd is on the right
  • at 6 mi, Indian Grave Gap Rd goes to the left
  • shortly before you get to Hwy 17/75 there is a creek ford
  • at Hwy 17/75 turn right (north)
  • at Hwy 180 turn left (west)
Note: near the end of Hwy 180 at US 19/129 is Wolfstake Rd and Choestoe Falls is off this road.  At US 19/129 you can turn back south to go over Blood Mtn via Neels Gap, and you will pass Vogel State Park - where there is a falls below the lake.

Posted by

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)