Slightly further away, my third stop for the afternoon is DeSoto Falls, which is within the Chattahoochee National Forest. GPS leads me to a wonderful view of the falls from the highway and half-a-mile away with no obvious parking or route down the mountain. After turning around, I quickly find the trailhead and depart for my final waterfall of the day.
After walking through the campground, and crossing Frogtown Creek, the trail splits. To the right and 3/4 of a mile distant is the upper falls and to the left and only a 1/4 mile away, the lower falls. I intend to hike to both while I'm here, but I'll do the upper falls first. The trail is well maintained, but has some incline to it. After a short distance, I climb a wooden staircase to an observation deck overlooking the three tiers of Upper DeSoto Falls. While not quite as amazing as the previous two waterfalls I've visited today, this one is still pretty impressive.
I turn and head back the way I came and then at the fork, continue on to the lower waterfall. This part of the trail is short, but steep as it winds its way up the hillside to finally reveal a much smaller waterfall pouring over an ancient stone slab. Neither of these waterfalls on the on the creek proper, but simply empty in the creek below.
I think I'm done for the day. I return to the jeep after having put in an additional 2.3 miles on this trail. What a wonderful way to kickstart the new year.
No comments:
Post a Comment