Georgia Waterfalls July 2019

The thing about selling your house is that now you have no where to park your car when you aren't using it.  So after poking around at all my options, I decided to leave it with my parents in Michigan.  They have the space and I can get free flight from Detroit to Boston (thank you Southwest Miles).  This required me to drive from Florida to Michigan with a stop off to see the sis and family in Virginia.  I also had roughly 3 weeks to go from point A to point B, so I could dawdle a little if I chose.  The car wasn't set up camper style yet and I had things to drop off at the Sis's house, so I couldn't dawdle too much because hotels cost money.  I decided to do a couple of days checking out waterfalls in northern Georgia.  There was a 10 waterfall roadtrip that I was going to try to do, but in the end didn't get to all 10.  T-Mobile cell service in Georgia is borderline non-existent and getting lost was an issue.  I spent 2 days chasing down waterfalls and towards the late afternoon of the 2nd day, I spent an hour trying to find the Minnehaha Falls and at this point I got bored and headed to Sis's house.

1. Amicalola Falls - located on the inside of Amicalola State Park, there is a $5 entrance fee and the park itself is worthy of a stay.  I didn't have time to explore it fully but at some point I'd like to. They have camping and archery and zip lining and hiking and all the basics.  The waterfall itself is stunning and very few photos do it justice.  Its just too big.  And its hard to get a decent shot without a bunch of other peoples heads in the way.  But I still got a few decent shots anyway.

2. DeSoto Falls - located on Federal Recreation property and parking is $3.  Its a moderate hike to the falls and it seemed really long to me because it started raining about halfway there and didn't stop until I got to my car.  There is some new construction in the area of the falls...a lovely observation platform in order to get the best photos.  There are still some construction materials lying around so perhaps there is more to come.

3. Helton Creek Falls - miserable drive to this one but no parking fee and the hike was very small once I got there.  I expect to get a really good photo, I'd have to get in the water, but I wasn't about that.  So I got what I could.

4. Anna Ruby Falls - So I drove pretty fast to try to get this one locked in before sunset.  Turns out they gate the area and hour before sunset and I was out of luck.  I would have been pushing it anyway as there is a bit of a hike to get to it.  Grabbed a room and went back in the morning.  The hike is marked and well maintained and is really beautiful.  You pass through a State Park to get there but if you tell them you are there for the falls, they wave you through and you pay at the next gate.  They charge $3 per person.  Well worth the effort.

5. Toccoa Falls - This one is actually on the property of a private collage and they also charge $3 for admission, they obviously take great pride in the falls and its very well maintained and beautifully landscaped.  It started raining about 10 feet from the building but it was a light rain so I soldiered on.  Within 5 minutes, I was wet and my camera was hiding under my shirt.  I hung out under a tree with some other tourists and waiting a few minutes for it to slow down.  Well worth the wait, I got a few lovely shots.

On the way back to the building, I also found a little Five Lined Skink hiding in the wood..

6. Tallulah Falls - This is also inside a state park and another $5 fee.  Again, the state park is really amazing and I'd like to spend more time there.  They have a huge educational center and lots of hiking.  There isn't exactly a Tallulah Falls, but that is the name of the town and there are a series of falls within a short distance from each other.  There are a number of observation points and I chose three that would be the least brutal on my knees.

Overall I was pretty happy with my two days of waterfalls.  I'd have liked to do them all, but with the rain and getting lost and me not wanting to spend anymore money on hotels, it was best to cut it short.  I also ran into a lovely little town called Helen, Ga that apparently has the best German food around.  I wanted to spend time there but I was tired and had hiking to do .  Perhaps next time I'll get to check out Helen and the 4 waterfalls I didn't get to this time around.