Wildcat Creek Rd (25 falls)

11/24/2013 - have off all this Thanksgiving week, so I went out and got some waterfall videos.  There are SO many falls on W. Wildcat Rd. that I'm finding it difficult to keep them in order and to get them all!  I thought I had it this time, but it looks like I need to go back yet again!

4/13/2013 - Wildcat Rd has been closed for 2 years, because of the tornados in 2011.  A couple/three weeks ago I was in the are and checked and the road was finally open again.  So I went up today to get videos.  There has been a lot of rain and the falls were just gorgeous, with lots of water coming over.  I didn't get all the falls...didn't find out until I got there that the battery on my camera was really low, but I did get as far as the waterslide falls.

5/1/2012 - a week after my previous post this area was hit hard by a tornado - Apr 28, 2011 actually.  Wildcat Rd. has been closed since then with no indication when it will be reopened.  I drove down it and it's closed just past the last private property access.

Creek names below are all from GMAPS

4/2/2011 - BIG update on Wildcat Road!  I went back to get new pictures and to drive with my windows open (FS 44 taught me to do that!) and I got 21 (!) falls I had missed before.  Very exciting!  Because I got so many new ones, I'm redoing this completely, and pushing the previous info to the very bottom.

7/31/2010 Drove up the gravel road that runs alongside Wildcat creek, which is not too far from Moccasin Creek State Park.  There are quite a few falls and cascades on this creek, some of which - but not all - are on Mr. Anthony's site.  My pictures got mixed up, so may not be in the correct order - but I plan to go back on a good day and redo them all to get them in order, and to get better pictures.

I'm pretty sure I missed some falls on 4/1/2013 - so I'm rearranging things until I can get back up there and try to get them all again!  I've put all the GPS coordinates and mileages at the bottom of the page until I can re-check them.

The first 3 photos are of some of the damage done during the tornadoes in 2011.  These were taken right at the beginning of the road, just after the end of the paved part.

http://www.jjanthony.com/waterfalls/falls/wildcat-creek-falls.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 These got all out of order...I'll go back soon and redo all the photos and make sure I get them in order!

The first 4 falls are very close together, starting at .9 mi and from there to about 1 mi.
GPS: 34°50'0"N 83°35'53"W (Wildcat Creek)
GPS: 34°50'0"N 83°35'53"W (Wildcat Creek)
GPS: 34°50'4"N 83°36'3"W (Wildcat Creek)
At 1.7 mi there are 3 falls that are close together in the next 1/10 mi
GPS: 34°50'5"N 83°36'6"W (Wildcat Creek)
GPS: 34°50'5"N 83°36'7"W (Wildcat Creek)
GPS: 34°50'6"N 83°36'12"W (Wildcat Creek)
At 1.8 mi is another falls
GPS: 34°50'6"N 83°36'15"W (Wildcat Creek)
At 1.9 mi there are 2 falls close together

GPS: 34°50'9"N 83°36'16"W (Wildcat Creek)
GPS: 34°50'4"N 83°36'18"W (Wildcat Creek)

At 2.0 mi there is a double falls divided by a shelf of rock (an eroded area in the road verge leads down to the shelf), and above that a short way is a popular waterslide falls that kids like to play on.

GPS: 34°50'6"N 83°36'20"W (Wildcat Creek)
GPS: 34°50'7"N 83°36'21"W (Wildcat Creek)
GPS: 34°50'1"N 83°36'21"W (Wildcat Creek)
At 2.2 mi is the first bridge on Wildcat Rd.  It crosses a side creek and upstream of the bridge is a falls
GPS: 34°50'4"N 83°36'45"W (Wildcat Creek)
Note: from this bridge to the next bridge at it sounds like there might be several falls, but the road is too high above the creek and the rhododendrons are too thick to see anything.  And the valley is too steep to climb down without climbing equipment!

At 3.6 miles there are, again, 3 falls fairly close together in the next 1/10 mi

GPS: 34°50'4"N 83°36'58"W (Wildcat Creek)
GPS: 34°49'37"N 83°36'59"W (Wildcat Creek)
GPS: 34°49'37"N 83°37'1"W (Wildcat Creek)
At 3.7 mi there is a small falls, with a long sliding shoals just below it
GPS: 34°49'35"N 83°37'5"W (Wildcat Creek)
At 3.8 mi there is another long, curved falls
GPS: 34°49'38"N 83°37'10"W (Wildcat Creek)
At 4.3 mi the road begins a steady uphill and there is an more open area between the road and the creek.  There are at least 4 falls coming down at this point.  To see the lower falls, you need to bushwhack across this open area to the creek.  To see the next 2, stop about halfway up the hill.  To see the top falls, there is a small parking area at the top and you can get down to the creek there.

GPS:34°49'41"N 83°37'26"W (Wildcat Creek)
GPS: 34°49'42"N 83°37'28"W (Wildcat Creek)
GPS: 34°49'44"N 83°37'33"W (Wildcat Creek)
GPS: 34°49'46"N 83°37'32"W (Wildcat Creek)
GPS: 34°49'47"N 83°37'33"W (Wildcat Creek)

At 6.1 mi there is another falls, might actually be a long one...but all you can see are glimpses of the moving water - so no picture, but it's there!  Part of it appears to be in a slot, but it's hard to get a good look at it.
GPS: 34°50'44"N 83°37'44"W (Jessie Branch)

At 7.3 mi there is a falls that might be long, but all that could be photographed was the small falls at the top.

GPS: 34°51'25"N 83°38'6"W (Mandy Branch)
At 8.3 mi another long falls, but could only get a photo - again - of the small falls at the top
GPS: 34°51'38"N 83°38'51"W (South Fork Moccasin Creek)

I would say that there are probably something like 30 or more waterfalls along this creek, but you just can't see them all.

Directions and Information: from Clarkesville, Ga

• north on GA 197
• left on West Wildcat Road

Note: there are many small falls and shoals along this creek.  Continue towards campground 2 (CG 2) and as you get close and ascend a steepish hill watch for a fairly open area to the right.  There is a falls with several cascades here.  At the top there is a wide area where you can park and get out on top of the falls.  Upstream is another small falls.  You can bushwhack downhill through the open area and get to the creek to view the other cascades.

Rhododendron Trail (6 falls)

3/8/2014 - went back to the Rhododendron Trail to try to get better videos of the distant falls.  I think I have them in the right order!  I realized as I was filming that there was an even lower one that I have missed on past trips.  So that increases the total to  6 falls, but now I don't have still shots of them all - guess I'll have to go back yet again!

11/22/2013 - took advantage of being off for over a week for the Thanksgiving holiday and went out to get videos of waterfalls.  Had time to take a good look at the distant falls, using the zoom on my video camera and I'm pretty sure they are 2 separate falls.  I was not able to get a good video of the upper falls, but the lower one came out ok.

1/25/2012 - my sister and I went back to the Rhododendron Trail at the Lake Russell end to scout the trail for a TrailDames hike and to get new pictures.  Got much better ones with the leaves off the trees!  And we found another one that I completely missed the first time I was there.  This time of the year the falls are much easier to spot.

6/26/2011 - stayed a bit closer to home this time and went up to the Lake Russell area to try the western half (or so) of the Rhododendron Trail, that starts in Cornelia and ends at the road down into the Lake Russell area.

There's no sign at this end for the trail, but it begins right at the sign that says "Fee Area ahead." (GPS: 34°30'5"N 83°29'23"W)  There's not any parking to speak of, but there's enough room on the verge for maybe 3 cars.  It's hard to tell there's a trail here, but when you look down from the road, you'll see a new wooden bridge and that's the trail

This was a pretty easy hike.  It does go steadily uphill along what looks like an old logging road, but none of the hills was really steep or long.  My GPS said I did just under 2 miles total, and it took me about 1 1/2 hours - and that includes stopping for photos, and bushwhacking over to the first falls.

As you hike in, once you turn up the valley and get out of ear-shot of the road, you'll start to hear the sound of water.  Keep hiking until it gets about as loud as it's going to get, then bushwhack a short way to the left, to the creek, and there is a small falls there.

Cascade Falls is at about .71 miles and at about 1.03 miles (GPS: 34°30'31"N 83°30'0"W) is the narrow side trail, on the right, to the falls on the side creek.  Cascade Falls is hard to see in the photo, but as usual, is easier when you are there.  I'll have to go back after the leaves drop and see if I can get a better shot.

GMAPS does not show the names of the creek for these falls, but it flows into Lake Russell

GPS: 34°30'14"N 83°29'39"W

GPS: 34°30'20"N 83°29'48"W

GPS: 34°30'33"N 83°30'0"W
This video is of the bottom falls in the still photo...just to the right of the big tree on the left side.

At the Cornelia end of the Rhododendron Trail is this nice trail map.

 Directions and Information: from US 441/23 north of Gainesville

• exit right onto GA 197
• at bottom of exit ramp, turn right
• road ends at T junction, turn right
• left on Lake Russell Road
• watch for small wooden bridge on right
• park here

Settingdown Creek (3 falls)

11/16/2013 - went back to get videos of these falls, but only had enough power to get the main falls.  Guess I'll have to get better about charging the battery before I set out!

5/15/2011 - Got much better pictures this time! The first 4 photos are of the upper falls/shoals - a panorama, and then 3 separate pictures of the left, center & right. Then the middle and lower falls at the bottom. The lower one isn't really very good, but I took it anyway just to have a record of having seen it. I followed the old road as far as I could, to where it was blocked by the fence and then took the best photo I could through the fence.

12/31/2010 - The upper falls is a mixture of falls and shoals and is so wide I couldn't even begin to get it all in one picture, and it was getting late in the afternoon so the last 2 were shot facing almost straight into the sun. Morning would be a better time to get pictures of that falls.

GPS: 34°17'28"N 84°14'35"W

 

GPS: 34°17'29"N 84°14'33"W
GPS: 34°17'31"N 84°14'32"W
 

Directions and Information: can be found at http://www.forsythco.com/DeptPage.asp?DeptID=40&PageID=162 - they don't have actual directions, but there's a link to MapQuest. This site says the park closes in late November and re-opens in the spring, but it was open when I was there today

Reedy Branch Falls - SC (2)

10/26/2013 - found this falls in the book "Hiking Waterfalls in Georgia and South Carolina" by Melissa Watson.  It's easy to find and an easy, downhill hike.  The smaller falls is at a trail junction, where the left trail goes to the bigger falls in a natural amphitheater and the right trail crosses the creek at a ruined bridge (you can cross on the narrow rock edge of the old bridge)

Some other hikers I met said the property used to be privately owned and there is a lake up the old road after you cross the creek to the right.

From the old bridge, the hike to the main falls is short, flat and easy.  This falls turned out to be much bigger than I had envisioned it from the picture in the book.

 

 

Directions and Information: from Clayton, GA

• east on US 76 for 10 miles
• look for stone wall gate entrance on right
• park here
• hike down old road to damaged bridge
• follow trail to left