2. Hiking Adventures

Waterfall On Tributary to Andrews Creek

Describes my hike to an undocumented waterfall on a tributary of Andrews Creek in White County
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How about a short and easy hike to an undocumented waterfall? I say "undocumented" because I can find no reference to it in print or on the internet. It is close to the highway, a popular camping area, and an AT connector trail passes within 0.5 miles of this 70 -80 foot beauty! Take Hwy 17/75 north out of Helen or south from Hiawassee to the Andrews Cove Recreation Area. If the camp ground is closed, like today, park in a large pull off two hundred yards south of the entrance.<br /> UPDATE: On the tenth page of a Google search for waterfalls on Andrews Creek, I found a reference to this waterfall <a href="http://davidleemuse.blogspot.com/2014_02_01_archive.html">http://davidleemuse.blogspot.com/2014_02_01_archive.html</a><br /> You have to scroll way down to" Monday February 10 th 2014; Objective 2"
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How about a short and easy hike to an undocumented waterfall? I say "undocumented" because I can find no reference to it in print or on the internet. It is close to the highway, a popular camping area, and an AT connector trail passes within 0.5 miles of this 70 -80 foot beauty! Take Hwy 17/75 north out of Helen or south from Hiawassee to the Andrews Cove Recreation Area. If the camp ground is closed, like today, park in a large pull off two hundred yards south of the entrance.
UPDATE: On the tenth page of a Google search for waterfalls on Andrews Creek, I found a reference to this waterfall http://davidleemuse.blogspot.com/2014_02_01_archive.html
You have to scroll way down to" Monday February 10 th 2014; Objective 2"

  • How about a short and easy hike to an undocumented waterfall? I say "undocumented" because I can find no reference to it in print or on the internet. It is close to the highway, a popular camping area, and an AT connector trail passes within 0.5 miles of this 70 -80 foot beauty! Take Hwy 17/75 north out of Helen or south from Hiawassee to the Andrews Cove Recreation Area. If the camp ground is closed, like today, park in a large pull off two hundred yards south of the entrance.<br /> UPDATE: On the tenth page of a Google search for waterfalls on Andrews Creek, I found a reference to this waterfall <a href="http://davidleemuse.blogspot.com/2014_02_01_archive.html">http://davidleemuse.blogspot.com/2014_02_01_archive.html</a><br /> You have to scroll way down to" Monday February 10 th 2014; Objective 2"
  • The camp ground is open from late March to the end of October. There are 10 camp sites, a chemical flush toilet and drinking water. Again, from a non-camper, I think Georgia has a wonderful variety of camping areas.
  • An information kiosk.
  • A magnificent stream (Andrews Creek).
  • The trail head is in the back, right corner of the camp ground; behind Camp Site # 6.
  • Blue blaze.
  • The trail follows an old logging road that quasi-parallels Andrews Creek. "Quasi parallel" means heads in the same direction! Kind of rocky, in spots.
  • Some rock-hop feeder streams.
  • You are looking for the first significant stream coming in from the north (to your left). At this point on the trail, the mouth of that stream is directly to the left about a hundred yards (You can't see Andrews Creek from this point). The bushwhacking begins. There is no preferred route, you just have to strike out through the woods toward Andrews Creek and search for the incoming stream. Once you find the stream and get across Andrews Creek, just head up stream on the right side of the tributary. It is open woods and is pretty flat.
  • As a ridge begins to rise on the right side of the tributary, you have to cross to the left side. The stream is beginning to rise more rapidly in elevation and you will have to scramble a bit after crossing. Ten or fifteen minutes from Andrews Cove trail brings you to this view.
  • You have to do some creative scrambling to get to a place for good photos. Then, because you are so close to the waterfall, the photos "tilt" the waterfall away at an angle. In actuality, the waterfall is almost vertical; all 70 or 80 feet of it that you can see.
  • Pretty cool, eh?
  • I think the reason few people know about this waterfall is because the creek makes a sharp turn near the base of the waterfall and the resulting ridge muffles the sound of the waterfall. Even though the AT Connector is only several hundred yards away, you can't hear any noise from the falling water.
  • Here is my GPS track. Before the hike, I put a way point in my Garmin at the intersection of the two creeks and another one where I thought a waterfall might be. As you can see, I over shot the turn off for the way point on the creek because I wasn't checking my Garmin often enough. And, there wasn't any noise coming from the waterfall; or the feeder stream, for that matter.
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