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

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Stonewall Creek Falls (4 falls)

9/12/2015 - haven't been able to get back to these falls because of my knee problems, and my reluctance to try to drive over a very rough spot in the road in my little station wagon.  But I've gotten a new (to me anyway) SUV so I thought I'd try it in that.  Well...they've solved the issue...you can't drive to the falls now, it's gated off at the bottom of the short drive to the parking area.  No reason you can't hike in from there, but I'm not sure how far it is...maybe 1/2 a mile?

11/24/2011 - I recently bought "Waterfall Hikes of North Georgia" by Jim Parham and he mentions some falls abover Stonewall Creek Falls, so today I went back to see them.  They're just visible from the trail along the creek, but don't photograph well from there because of the ubiquitous rhododendron.  It did look like it was possible to get down to both of them, but the trail was steep and I didn't feel like trying it when I was there alone.

GPMAPS does not show the falls on the side branch, but it flows into Stonewall Creek

9/5/2010 My sister and I did 4 falls this day, but the others are already documented. 

4/30/2011 - went above Lake Rabun Rd, which is above the town of Tallulah Falls, GA - to see if there were any waterfalls.  Panned completely, there weren't even any creeks or branches.  Since I was more or less in the area, I went back to Stonewall Creek Falls to get better pictures.  On the way in I heard a falls on a side branch.  It's not easy to see in the photo, but when you are there you can see that it goes quite a long way down the branch.  It's alongside the last hill you drive down before you get to Stonewall Creek Falls.  The flowers were growing right beside the road on the way in to the falls.

9/5/2010 - this falls is down a long, winding Forest Service road north of the town of Tallulah Falls, GA.  The road was eroded in several places, which required some careful driving, but we made it almost to the falls.  About 1/4 mile away there was a spot that was badly rutted...so I chose to park and walk the rest of the way.  And, of course, once we got down to the valley, there were quite a few campers down there...cars and all!  So we probably could have driven down, if I'd been careful about it.

GPS: 34°49'10"N 83°26'41"W (unnamed branch falls)
GPS: 34°49'14"N 83°27'0"W (Stonewall Creek Falls)





Directions and Information: from Tallulah Falls, GA
  • north on US 441 - get into left-hand lane
  • on large, divided, 4 lane bridge - get into the left-hand turn lane ON the bridge
  • left at end of bridge, then immediately right onto Old US 441
  • left on FS 20 (not easy to see-is at some kind of utility building, electric company maybe-but there are signs on the left about bike trails)
Note: falls is at far end of camping area where FS road ends, however if the road is bad you may not be able to drive all the way in.  About .4 miles before the end there is a short side road to a parking area for the biking trails.  You can park here and hike in to the falls.

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.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Bull Sluice & Poke Creek falls (2 falls)

11/10/2011 - went to the Chattooga River to see Bull Sluice and the falls on the side creek Poke Creek.  I only got a picture of the lower falls on the side creek.  I just could not get up high enough to see the upper, sliding falls.  The lower falls is not as flat as it appears in the photo.

Bull Sluice (meaning the river, of course) was way down in water volume...but in a way that was nice, because it let me see the "bone" (rocks) that make up the sluice.  These would not be visible in higher water.
GPS: 34.81742° -83.30560° (Poke Creek)


Directions and Information: from Clayton, GA
  • East on US 76 - to across the SC border
  • Park in parking area on north side of the road
  • Go down the steps to the walkway on the bridge and cross back into GA
  • Trail begins at end of walkway
  • At the fork in the trail, bear right - downhill to river
  • Follow trail upstream to creek crossing at Poke Creek
  • Bull Sluice is visible from here upstream beside huge boulder on left
The hike is pretty easy, but I found that the trail along the river had several old logjams that had to be climbed - something that I found difficult because of my poor balance.  They wouldn't be bad for someone more limber than me!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Becky Branch falls (7 falls)

11/3/2011 - went back up to Clayton to see if it was possible to do the falls in Warwoman Dell, Becky Branch Falls and the shortcut to Martins Creek Falls in one day.  Turned out to be quite doable, and I got some new falls going up Becky Branch!

7/2/2011 - went back to Warwoman Dell to see the rhododendrons, but they were not very abundant this year.  While I was there I bushwhacked to the bottom of the falls below Warwoman Road.

4/16/2011 - on my way to find the campground at Sarah's Creek, I passed right by Becky Branch, which flows down into Warwoman Dell.  There are falls visible from the road, and below the road another good sized falls...so I stopped and got pictures.  It's hard to see in the photo, but the falls upstream of Warwoman Rd go almost to the top of the photo.

I've hiked up this branch several times, and if I remember correctly, there are several other falls before you get to the bridge below Becky Branch Falls.  Will have to go back one day and get pictures!

The first 2 pictures are the same falls, the one just below the road.  The first is taken looking down from Warwoman Rd, and the second is taken from the bottom.
GPS 34°52'59"N 83°21'5"W




  
Directions and Information: from Clayton, GA
  • east on Warwoman Rd
  • upper falls are visible from road on curve above road to Warwoman Dell
  • lower falls can be seen from road by walking downhill and crossing the road
  • the best view of the falls going up Becky Branch is from the slightly longer trail on the east side of the Branch
Notes: there is a trail just uphill of Becky Branch where the Bartram Trail crosses Warwoman Road.  You can hike down this trail and then bushwhack over to the lower falls.