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

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Cohutta Wilderness (8 falls)

11/23/2011 - I recently bought "Waterfall Hikes of North Georgia" by Jim Parham and I realized I've been driving right past a lot of waterfalls, especially in the Cohuttas!  So I went back to find a few of them.  Found some extra ones along Old CCC Camp Road this time.

Creek names shown below are all from GMAPS

10/21/2011 - Getting to this one a bit late, but better late than never!  I took a long day and drove all around and about the Forest Service roads in the Cohutta Wilderness.  Beautiful area, but not many waterfalls that are visible from the roads.  I did get a few small ones.  I understand there are others that can be hiked to, but I didn't do any hiking this day.

This first one is on Old CCC Camp Rd driving into the wilderness area from Eton, Ga.  A short way above this small falls is a long shoal with several smaller falls.  The 1st one was particularlay hard to photograh, but as usual with these creeks bordered by lots of rhododendrons and trees, it's easier to see when you are there.  The 2nd is close to the junction with Conasauga Rd & W. Cow Pens Rd

11/23/2011 - picked up more falls along CCC Camp Road.  Because I got some on one trip, some on another - I've gotten them mixed up.  Will have to go back one day and get them in order!  The last one, Holly Creek Falls, is down a steep hill - but it's doable and you get a much better view from the rocks below the falls.

GPS: 34°48'17"N 84°37'55"W (Holly Creek)
GPS: 34°48'5"N 84°36'58"W (Holly Creek)




This one is on W. Cow Pen Rd, just past the junction with Old CCC Camp Rd & Conasauga Rd.
GPS: 34°48'10"N 84°36'56"W (unnamed branch, flows into Holly Creek)
 

And this one is on Shakerag Rd.  If you are driving south from Gates Chapel Rd (downhill) the road goes quite close to this small falls, but the best view is past that point and right where the road crosses the creek - stop and look upstream.
GPS: 34°47'16"N 84°35'20"W (Stillhouse Branch)


Directions and Information: from Chatsworth, GA

There are several ways to get to and into the Cohutta Wilderness.  On this day I started in Eton, GA - north of Chatsworth - and drove up Old CCC Camp Road, then up W. Cow Pen Rd, down Wilderness Trail, and then on Shakerag Rd. to Conasauga Rd and out to Hwy 52.
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