2. Hiking Adventures

Second Prong Keener Creek

Describes a hike to a waterfall on the Second Prong of Keener Creek in Rabun County Georgia
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A year or so ago, Mark Oleg suggested I look at Keener Creek in Rabun County Georgia. There are some impressive cascades near the bottom of the creek but they are on private property. To me, it looked as if there might also be some waterfalls in the headwaters. Consequently, I looked at accessing Keener Creek from the north, through Joe Gap. Last spring, I took a reconnaissance hike in from Patterson Gap Road. Today, I went back and got to one of the two places I had identified.
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A year or so ago, Mark Oleg suggested I look at Keener Creek in Rabun County Georgia. There are some impressive cascades near the bottom of the creek but they are on private property. To me, it looked as if there might also be some waterfalls in the headwaters. Consequently, I looked at accessing Keener Creek from the north, through Joe Gap. Last spring, I took a reconnaissance hike in from Patterson Gap Road. Today, I went back and got to one of the two places I had identified.

  • A year or so ago, Mark Oleg suggested I look at Keener Creek in Rabun County Georgia. There are some impressive cascades near the bottom of the creek but they are on private property. To me, it looked as if there might also be some waterfalls in the headwaters. Consequently, I looked at accessing Keener Creek from the north, through Joe Gap. Last spring, I took a reconnaissance hike in from Patterson Gap Road. Today, I went back and got to one of the two places I had identified.
  • I parked at the trail head on Patterson Gap Road 1.6 miles from Betty Creek Road. Actually, this is where FR 32 begins. This particular picture is from my hike a year ago. (It was sunny that day, too!)
  • After meandering around through some flat, bottom land, the trail becomes defined as it follows an old logging road.
  • The logging road makes a steady climb up the north side of the mountain.
  • The trail is not steep nor cluttered but it makes a steady climb of some 600 feet elevation up to Joe Gap.
  • Go straight through the gap (not left or right) and begin a decent.
  • This hike provides an excellent comparison of the effects of climatic differences between northern slopes and southern slopes of these mountains. The northern slope is clean open woods; the southern slope is a tangle of under story and blow downs.
  • You cross several feeder streams as the major tributary begins to gather water from every nook and cranny on the mountain. (I call the unmarked tributary "Second Prong", since there is a named "First Prong" on Keener Creek)
  • Formidable, one might say.
  • After half a mile ( more or less) of blow downs and clutter, the trail improves and swings around a ridge above the waterfall. My first attempt to reach the waterfall from that ridge was stymied by a cliff. But eventually, I was able to find my way to this beauty.
  • There is absolutely no semblance of the beauty of what I saw and the resulting picture.
  • There is a huge, recessed spray cliff to the right behind the waterfall. To the left, down stream and out of sight, is a moss-covered rock wall. I estimate the height of the waterfall to be thirty-one feet; + or -
  • Here is the track.
  • Here is the profile. About four miles; round trip.
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