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

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Sherwood Creek falls

1/27/2013 - went back down Spout Springs Rd to get video of the falls.  Standing on the bridge gives the most direct view, but there are lots of small trees in the way.  So to get the "cleanest" video I had to go to the south side and get a more sideways view. 

According to GMAPS, this is on Sherwood Creek

3/14/2011 - I was near Spout Springs Rd today, so I stopped and took more pictures of this falls.  I found that the property is posted, but there is a better view of the falls from the road by going to the south side of the bridge.

1/16/2011 drove down Spout Springs Rd towards I85 yesterday, on my way to the waterfall on the Mulberry River, and saw a waterfall right beside the road!  I had actually known it was there, just forgot all about it.  So I went back today to get a picture.  I don't know the name of the creek or if the falls is named.  It's a small falls, maybe 4 feet at the most.  With all the snow still on the ground I didn't try to get closer, took the photo from the road.  As you can see from the picture, this falls might be hard to see when the trees are in leaf.

GPS: 34.11766°N 83.87426°W
 
 
Directions and Information: from I85
  • exit 129, GA 211
  • north on GA 211
  • left on Thompson Mill Rd
  • right on Spout Springs Rd
  • falls is at first creek after passing the business area, on the left
Note: falls can be seen from the road, but right at the creek crossing the margins are very narrow.  To park you need to either stop before or after the guard rails and walk back to the creek.  The property on the south side of the creek is posted, and the property on the north side is very steep right down to the creek.  The best view is from the road.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Walnut Creek falls

1/27/2013 - looks like I misread the Elachee trail map and put this falls on the wrong creek. 

According to GMAPS this falls is on Walnut Creek
 
1/12/2013 - decided I needed to get out more and get back in hiking shape, so I went out to Elachee Nature Center to get started.  Hiked the West Lake Trail as far as the suspension bridge and on the way back I tried out my new video camera and got a short video of the waterfall there.  It's kind of shakey!  But hopefully as I get used to using it I'll get better with it.

2/12/2011 - at Elachee Nature Center.  While I was driving home from Clayton, GA today I was reminded of another waterfall I've actually seen many times.  It's at the Elachee Nature Center near Gainesville, GA.  So I decided to add it too!

This falls is on Vulture Rock Creek on the Nature Center grounds, just below the bridge across this creek.  There's a small dam on top of the falls, maybe an old small sawmill dam?

GPS: 34.23380°N 83.83152°W

 
Directions and Information - can be found at:
http://www.elachee.org/visitor%20info/Nature%20Trails/naturetrails.html

Note: the shortest hike to see this falls is to park at the overflow parking near the Nature Center.  Then hike south on the West Lake Trail, turn left onto the Duncan Ridge Trail -  to the bridge crossing Vulture Rock Creek.  The falls are a short way down the trail, past the bridge.  There is a trail map on the website.