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, August 20, 2014

Hemlock Falls (Moccasin Creek) (9 falls)

8/16/2014 - I've been getting physical therapy for my knees and it's working really well.  So I decided to do a fairly easy hike and get some better videos of the falls on Moccasin Creek.  I didn't get all the way to Hemlock Falls, got too tired.  After taking a nice leisurely hike I decided some of the falls I've had here aren't really big enough to count.  So I've lowered the total to 9 falls.

 Looks like I'll need to go back again!  The videos I got don't match up with the still photos I have.

 11/25/2013 - since I'm off all this Thanksgiving weekend, I've been getting as many waterfall videos as I can.  I can't quite match the videos I got with the still photos, guess I'll have to go back and do a better job!

The trail to Hemlock Falls starts at the end of a rough gravel road opposite Moccasin Creek State Park. The trail is just over a mile long and is an easy, uphill hike. At one point you cross the creek on a recently improved bridge. This is one of my favorites and I've been here several times in the last couple of years.

This falls is actually a side branch that is on the other side of the creek from the trail





This falls is immediately below the bridge across Moccasin Creek


The 4 following falls are one right after the other after you've climbed up from the bridge.






This is Hemlock Falls

   
unnamed falls on Moccasin Creek- this falls is upstream of Hemlock Falls. Hike above Hemlock Falls and immediately cross the creek, then hike uphill until you hit an unimproved trail. Most of this trail appears to be an old logging road, but it's not maintained and there a lot of blow-downs to negotiate. At one point there's a tangle of smaller blow-downs and it's tricky to get around them. Once you are at the falls - maybe a bit more than 1/2 mile - you will hear them, and there is a short, steep side trail down to the base.


Directions and Information: from Clarkesville, GA
  • north on GA Hwy 197
  • just before Moccasin Creek State Park, left on Andersonville Rd
  • part at end of Andersonville Lane on left
  • trail is a continuation of the old road, past the rock with the trail named carved in it

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