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

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Horse Trough Falls

3/16/2013 - took the day to go down FS 44 to get videos.  Had planned to do the whole drive, but there was a sign that said the road had collapsed 7 miles in and traffic couldn't get through!  So I decided to drive in as far as I could and get the waterfalls that I could get.  Luckily I got as far as the campground, and the campground was open...so I got Horsetrough Falls.  Didn't have time to do the hike to the falls on the Chattahoochee, will have to go back another time for that one.

 3/20/2011 - went back down FS 44 to get new pictures and to search for other waterfalls in the area - had a great day!  See my blog entry on FS 44 and the 17 waterfalls I saw!  Added a new picture of this falls that I took.  Also got a new picture of Horse Trough Falls and added that.

GMAPS does not show the name of this creek, but it flows into the Chattahoochee River

7/3/2010 - did 3 falls, 2 near Unicoi Gap and the other at Vogel State Park.  For the two falls near Unicoi Gap, you go north on GA 17/GA 75 from Helen, GA and the Forest Service road is to the left just before you get to the gap.  The road is narrow in places, and leads to a very popular campground - so be prepared to back up to allow other cars to pass, if necessary - especially those pulling trailers as they will not be able to back up for you.

A short way after starting down the FS 44, there is Upper Spoilcane Creek Falls (separate blog entry) right beside the road.  There's no parking area, you just have to find the nearest spot wide enough to park and then walk back to the falls.  

Horse Trough Falls is at the back of the Chattahoochee River Campground.  FS 44 comes to a T-junction with another FS road, and you turn right and drive through the campground to the parking area for the falls.  There is a short, easy trail to the viewing deck for the falls.  The bridge you cross on the way is the first bridge over the Chattahoochee.

GPS 34°47'32"N 83°47'11"W

 
 
Directions and Information: from Helen, GA
  • north on GA 17/GA 75
  • left on FS 44 (before Unicoi Gap, if you get to gap you've gone too far)
  • FS 44 goes back south at T-junction
  • right on gravel road FS 44D (my map program says Poplar Stump Road)
  • continue through campground to parking area
    •  
Note: trail is short and easy to viewing deck
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