Hiking Anna Ruby Falls

Georgia Travelog #18
Helen - Saturday, 12 Apr 2025, 12pm

Another day, another string of waterfall treks here in the Appalachian Mountains of north Georgia. Today I hope will work out better, weather-wise, than yesterday. The forecast shows sun all day.

Our first hike today was Anna Ruby Falls. It's in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest, though to get to it we had to drive through Unicoi State Park. Fortunately there's no fee collected by the state for us passers-through. There's just a fee for collected by the US government. I know, *grumble* *grumble*, why's there a fee. Just pay it and be glad you did when you see how beautiful Anna Ruby Falls is— and that there's a big, well maintained parking lot here and a nice visitors center, too.

Watch on YouTube

A paved trail leads about 0.5 mile uphill from the visitors center. Informational signs along the way explain the geology and flora and fauna of the area. At the top of the trail three observation decks provide plenty of vantage points to view the falls. This video is recorded from one of the platforms.

Curiously Anna Ruby Falls is not one but two falls. Two different creeks, York Creek and Curtis Creek, tumble over rocky ledges and combine at the bottom to form Smith Creek. A double falls like this is a rare thing.

Hiking Horse Trough Falls

Georgia Travelog #19
Helen - Saturday, 12 Apr 2025, 3:30pm

Our second hike today was Horse Trough Falls a bit outside of Helen, GA. Geez, the day's more than half over, and we've only done two hikes out of four planned. We're not even that far— as the crow flies— from our previous hike, the amazing Anna Ruby Falls. Where did all the time go? Well, for one, we drove back down to Helen to enjoy a sit-down lunch after Anna Ruby. And two, on the way back out here we took a... um, scenic route... through the forest.

Yeah, Apple Maps gave us a bum steer getting to the trailhead. I refuse to say we got lost— because I always knew where we were. We just weren't where we wanted to be and weren't always 100% sure which route would get us there. 🤣 The difference between the mapped directions and the route I ended up driving was over 9 miles of Forest Service road.

"Only 9 miles?" you may ask. "What's the big deal?" The big deal is it's 9 miles of dirt road. Eight miles of dirt road with extremely spotty cell service to figure out where we are on a map. Fortunately my wilderness and 4x4 skill that got us across the dirt roads with no worries also gave me enough confidence with reading the (rarely there) map and the lay of the land to get to the right place.



The right place? That's the Upper Chattahoochee River Campground. And while the... scenic route... we took to get there was often deserted, there were two other cars at the trailhead when we arrived. A few more had arrived by the time we returned. I'm virtually certain they all came in the easier way. It's only 2 miles of dirt road that way.



Most of the hiking trail is a gated off road that goes through the campground. A small paper sign at the front indicates that the campground "will" open in late March, 2025. And here it is, two weeks later, still chained shut. Oops. Probably the people responsible for opening the campground were fired by DOGE. 🤬

As much of an adventure driving here was, the walk to Horse Trough Falls was easy.  The gravel road through the campground was actually a better driving route than the route we actually drove to get here. But it was a pleasant walk in the woods with a brilliant blue sky overhead. I'd say the blue sky is because we're up in the mountains... except we're not "up" that much by California standards. The trailhead's at 2,200' elevation.



Horse Trough Falls was bigger than I was expecting. What was I expecting? I dunno; but with a name like horse trough I guess I was prepared for it being like someone spitting in a bucket. Instead it's easily 30' high and with plenty of water flowing.



In beauty I walk.