My North Georgia (mostly) Waterfalls Project: December 2011

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

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Bearden Falls (4 falls)

12/10/2011 - took a few Traildames to do this hike and see this falls. It's an easy hike almost the whole way, except just as you approach the falls there's a short, very steep section - maybe 8-10 feet high that I just could not get up. Some of the group did make it though. Luckily there's a very good view of the top of the falls at this point, where you can see it as it comes over the edge of the escarpment. Fantastic sight! My understanding is that this is the same escarpment that Amicalola Falls and Cochran Falls go over.

The hike goes up Nimblewill Creek and then up Bearden Creek and there are lots of small and medium sized falls before you get to the main falls. Makes for a pleasant hike.

GMAPS does not show the name of the creek for Bearden Falls, but it flows into Nimblewill Creek. Mr. Anthony's site says it's Bearden Creek.

GPS: 34.59643° -84.19567° (Nimblewill Creek)
GPS: 34.59874° -84.19598° (Nimblewill Creek)

GPS: 34.60706° -84.19712° (unnamed creek)

GPS: (didn't get) (unnamed creek)

Directions and Information: from Dahlonega, GA

West on GA 52

Right on Nimblewill Church Rd (there's an old, rundown, abandoned store here)

Follow road to past Nimblewill Church and continue straight

Road is now Nimblewill Gap Rd and just after the church there a sign FS 28-2

1.8 miles from the end of the tarmac, turn right onto short road into camping/parking spot (FS 28-2 turns a bit left and starts up the mountain, you don't want to go up!)

Park here

Follow road on foot, along Nimblewill Creek, across small side stream and past several very large wet potholes

Cross Nimblewill Creek at end of this road

Bear left - upstream on Nimblewill Creek

Cross Bearden Creek

Bear right and follow Bearden Creek upstream across several fords

Trail gets very steep just before the base of the falls

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Nimblewill Gap Rd (FS 28-2) (2 falls)

12/1/2011 - went up west of Dahlonega to scout the trail & parking for Bearden Falls. Found that easily, so I decided to drive further up the road. Got all the way to the gap, where the road out the other side looked pretty rough, so I turned around and drove out the way I came in. Found a couple of small roadside falls - not worth driving just to see those, but if you have some other reason to drive to the gap you can look for them.

GMAPS does not show either of these branches, but they must flow into Nimblewill Creek

GPS: 34.58622° -84.20256°
GPS: 34.59912° -84.21143°

We had some rain and a cold front go through early in this week, and when I got up near the gap I found this!