Magic Mist Falls (Palmer Crk-Dawsonville)

7/4/2012 - A TrailDame (Thanks again Katie!) took my sister and I to this falls.  It's quite close to downtown Dawsonville, GA.  The hike in was on an old dirt road.  Not too bad at the beginning, but then it takes a right-angle turn to the left and is very washed out and rough, but passable with care.  Turned out there's another trail to this falls, but I forgot to take a GPS coordinate where it meets the old road, and unfortunately it's not easy to see - but it's where there's a place on the left where it's faintly obvious that people have walked into the woods.  I didn't hike this trail, but my sister did and she said it's a bit steep, but in better shape than the road after the turn.

Honestly, since this is essentially a valley waterfall...it turned out to be much bigger and more complex than I expected!  Well worth the hike in.

According to GMAPS this falls is on Palmer Creek

GPS: 34.41909° -84.09851°

Directions and Information: from Ga 400 highway

• from GA 400 - take GA 53 west towards Dawsonville
• bear right on Perimeter Rd
• at the junction of Perimter Rd and Allen St - stop and park at old road across from Allen St
• Hike approximately 1/4 mile to large turn-around area
• (about 1/2 way down this part, there is a faint trail to the left that comes out at the creek and follows the falls downhill - this is an alternate route)
• take old, eroded road to left
• this old road comes out at the base of the falls

Note: I don't know if this property is private or public.  There is no mailbox at the start of the road, but just in case please be considerate and treat it as private property.  I would not suggest trying to drive on this old road.  It's not TOO bad up to the turnaround, but after the left turn is in very bad shape and is certainly no longer driveable.

Choestoe Falls & ice falls

6/30/2012 - hot, hot, hot!  106 degrees in Atlanta, and maybe close to that on Blood Mtn.  Did a TrailDames meetup to see the falls on Dicks Creek and because we got done so early we tried for this one too, but I'm sad to say it's no longer accessible to the public.  A house has been built on the property and the drive is now behind a locked gate.  So I am removing the directions.

According to GMAPS these falls are on Shoal Branch

4/9/2011 - did a long, roundabout drive today looking for new falls (see entry for Tray Mtn Rd, etc) and since I was in the area I stopped at Choestoe falls to get new pictures and the GPS coordinate.

12/18/2010 This falls is on the grounds of the Choestoe Falls RV park, off GA 180 between Blood Mountain and Brasstown Bald: http://www.choestoefallsrvpark.com/

Someone emailed this one to me after I posted about my blog on a couple of mail lists I belong to.  It's very pretty, and easy to get to.  It's on private property but is not posted and there is a nice, short gravel road to a parking area near the falls.  If you want to get closer than that, the road goes right to the base of the falls, but is rutted and muddy, so park and walk to get closer.

On the way to this falls I drove up GA 348-the Richard B. Russell Scenic Highway, which goes over Tesnatee Gap.  Just before the gap, and at the gap, there were these fantastic ice falls!

Directions and Information:

Choestoe Falls is no longer accessible to the public.

Pounding Mill Creek falls (5 falls)

6/16/2012 - went back to see if conditions on the road had improved.  They definitely have.  Looks like quite a bit of road work and graveling was done and the road was in good condition.  I was able to drive the road all the way west to where it becomes a paved road.  Found a new, small waterfall on the side of the road.  It's pretty much buried in rhododendron, so it doesn't show up well in the photo - but as usual, when you are there the moving water makes it easier to see.

7/10/2011 - went back up to Rabun County to Hale Ridge Rd.  My intention was to follow the Forest Service roads all the way into North Carolina, but they were too wet and in too bad a shape and I had to stop at the trailhead for the Holcomb Creek trail and turn around.  But I did get 4 falls along Hale Ridge Rd. 

These are all really hard to see in the photos, they're all buried in thick rhododendon.  As is usual with falls like this, they are much easier to see when you are there.

Falls 1 is the gray spot dead center in the photo.
Falls 2 is the line of white spots in the center of the photo.

According to GMAPS the first 4 falls are on Pounding Mill Creek

GPS: 34°55'40"N 83°14'18"W (Pounding Mill Creek)
GPS: 34°56'16"N 83°14'26"W (Pounding Mill Creek)

These two falls are very close together.
Falls 3 is the broken white line just above the enter of the photo.
Falls  4 is all of the broken white in most of the photo.
GPS: 34°56'21"N 83°14'26"W (Pounding Mill Creek)

This falls is hard to see in the photo.  It goes from the large dark area just off-center to the little white spot that is just visible near the top and just off-center.

 

GMAPS does not show the name of the creek for this falls, but it flows into an also unnamed creek that flows into Holcomb Creek

 

GPS: 34.98488° -83.28256° (this may not be correct)

Directions and Information: from Clayton, GA

• east on Warwoman Rd
• north on Hale Ridge Rd
• last falls is west on Hale Ridge Rd - left turn at the T junction

Note: I didn't see a sign with the name of the road on it, but there is a sign on the right side of Warwoman Rd that says "Hale Ridge Cemetary"

Sterling on the Lake

1/18/2012 - After going to Fairmont on the Park, I drove past Sterling on the Lake and decided to go in and see if the trail to the waterfall was open.  It's been closed for nearly a year due to a bridge being out...but this day it was open.  As far as I can tell it's an open trail, I didn't see any No Trespassing signs. It's a fairly short, easy walk on mostly paved trail.  At the second bridge, where the trail crosses over the creek there's a faint natural trail that goes upstream a short way to the falls.  It's actually a bit of a scramble, which seems kind of funny as there is a sign at the beginning pointing to the waterfall, but there's not really much of a trail to get close to it!

It's a pretty sloping waterfall and probably, really, falls somewhere in that grey area between a falls and a shoals, but since I've been trying to get to it for a year it counts!

GMAPS does not show a name for this creek, but it flows into Looper Lake

GPS: 34.14564° -83.90644°

Directions and Information: from I985

• Exit 12 - south on Spout Springs Rd
• right on Lake Sterling Blvd (main entrance to Sterling on the Lake)
• continue to tennis courts on left and park here
• trail and waterfall sign is at far corner of tennis court fence

Note: follow paved trail across first bridge over small side creek, and at bridge over the creek continue upstream on faint trail to falls.  The falls goes over a sizable rock formation that juts out into the creek and provides a nice platform to get pictures.

Enota Retreat falls (3 falls)

12/18/2010 - Enota Retreat-Garrett Falls

On my way to get another falls, I went past the Enota Mountain Retreat...so I stopped to look for the falls at the entrance - Garrett Falls.  It's not visible from the road, but if you stop in the pull-off and walk to the edge, the falls are easily visible across the picnic area.

7/25/2010 Went to the Enota Mountain Retreat to see their waterfalls.  Their website says there are 4, but at the office they could only direct me to the 2 big ones.  They charge a $10 day use fee, which is probably not too bad if you're actually going to stay all day, but I thought it a bit steep for just a quick trip to see the waterfalls.

Joel Creek Falls is accessed via a fairly short, but tough trail up above the trout pond behind the Visitors Center.  I had to go carefully, as I was alone and there were some tricky spots to negotiate.  But the falls are beautiful and well worth it.

Gurley Creek Falls is behind the Vistors Center and there is a distant view from a platform in the valley at the end of the cabins.  There is a trail to the base of the falls, but it was steep and not in very good condition and I was not able to get to the base on this day.

 

http://www.jjanthony.com/waterfalls/falls/joelcreekfalls.html

http://www.jjanthony.com/waterfalls/falls/gurleycreekfalls.html

 

Directions and Information: can be found at http://www.enota.com/