The views looking out from this point were great, but we couldn’t see much of the falls. So we started making our way down the West Ridge Staircase. Down many, many steps - more than 400. And going down meant we would have to go back up afterwards. But going down was the easy part and we enjoyed the stroll down alongside the mighty waterfall.
At the base of the stairs, the trail runs across a footbridge over the middle of the falls and then down even more stairs to the lower observation platform for a view of the entire 700-foot waterfall.
We stopped for a while to get some pictures and then slowly made our way back up.
Near the top of the stairs, we talked to an older gentleman who was clearly an experienced hiker in the region. He told us to check out the archway for the Appalachian Trail just behind the visitor center. So after we finished the climb and made it back to the car, we made a quick stop at the visitor center to get a picture of the AT archway.
Then we left the park and headed into Chattahoochee National Forest. We took GA-52E to Nimblewill Church Road and turned left at the church to the gravel Nimblewill Gap Road. After about 4 miles, we pulled into a primitive campsite and hiked upstream along Nimblewill and Bearden Creek. There was no official trail, but we could follow old roads up most of the way. We had several stream crossings along the way, but only one near the beginning at Nimblewill Creek where we had to wade.
About half way up the trail, there was a nice waterslide along Bearden Creek and another small waterfall on a feeder stream, although this was very hard to see through the dense foliage.
As we approached the waterfall, the trail became much more steep and narrow. Although we could see the falls through the trees as we climbed up, there were no views where the trail ended. So I climbed down a precarious wet rock and waded across a small pool to a big rock where I had spectacular views of the waterfall.
Although not well-known, this was a really fantastic waterfall.
After a few pictures I had to make the extremely challenging climb back up to the trail. After that, however, it was really an easy and relaxing hike back downstream to the car. And one more stream crossing at Nimblewill Creek near the end. From here, we went back on Nimblewill Gap Road to Nimblewill Church Road, but soon turned off the paved road onto FS-28-1 for a long drive on windy forest roads. At the fork, we went left on FS-77 (Winding Stair Gap Road) and then turned on FS-77A. We were planning to drive down to Jones Creek for Falls Branch Falls, but the road was partially washed out and we didn’t want to risk getting stuck. However, the drive was not totally in vain as we could stop and see a couple of smaller waterfalls on Upper East Fork of Jones Creek. There was no trail, but they were close to a pulloff on the road.
We bushwhacked down to the third waterfall and then made our way back upstream to view the second and first.
Then we drove back to FS-28-1 and followed that to Hightower Church Road (FS-28). We followed this past a couple of military vehicles and Camp Wahsega and stopped at the US Army Ranger Camp Frank D. Merrill. Although this training ground for the elite Army Rangers is restricted at times, they are nice enough to allow public access to the waterfalls when training is not ongoing. From the pull-off, we hiked down the small hiking trail and soon could hear Lower Falls and found a spot where we could bushwhack down to the base. Surprisingly, there was another couple here, but they were just getting ready to go, so we spent a few minutes taking pictures and enjoying the falls.
When we were done, we climbed back up to the trail and followed it a little further to yet another stream crossing. The water level was high and there was no rock-hopping so we had to wade again. From here, we followed a trail upstream along the river until we got close to the training grounds and crossed on a log. As it turns out, we didn’t really need to cross the stream and could have just backtracked from Lower Falls. Just past the training area was Black Falls.
There is a conveniently placed bridge across the river just in front of the falls that allows for good photos. When we were done, we hiked back up the road to the parking area. It was getting late by this time, so we started heading back to Helen. Along the way, we stopped for Mexican at El Campesino in Cleveland, and then headed back to the hotel.
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