Almost Hiking Cochran's Falls

A couple of weeks ago, I got the chance to hike a few trails in the North Georgia Mountains. The last trip was an attempt to reach the top of Cochran's Falls, which is near Amicalola State Park. It's the second highest waterfall in the state of Georgia. What was once a one mile hike has become 2.3 miles after forestry officials blocked a long stretch of road and attempted to make this waterfall much more difficult to reach after hikers/climbers fell some thirty feet into the creek.

Despite a four plus mile hike through a very muddy, bug infested trail and a resolve not to be denied a chance to photograph this fall, I was forced to turn around when the trail vanished into a slippery rock face with no handholds.

Not to be completely denied, I was able to work my way out into the creek and photograph a couple of very pretty smaller cascades below the main falls. One of these days, I will make it back to Cochran's Falls, perhaps from the private property above the falls. Until then, I'll have to be content with some nice shots of the lower sections.