Waterfall Hikes of North Georgia

Waterfall Hikes of North Georgia includes 61 day hikes to more than 200 waterfalls on public lands in north Georgia. The book is divided into five main sections, each covering a different area of the region. These are: the Northwest Corner (also known as the Ridge & Valley region), The Cohuttas, Western Blue Ridge, Eastern Blue Ridge, and Northeast Corner. Most hikes are configured to take in more than one waterfall, and a section at the back of the book lists itineraries with up to three shorter hikes that can be done in the space of a single day. Although the focus of the guide is hiking to waterfalls, the author includes numerous accounts of natural and human history in different hike locations. These range from the threat to north Georgia's native hemlock population to a description of the "Battle Above the Clouds," a pivotal conflict in the American Civil War that was fought on Lookout Mountain, the site of one hike in the book that starts and ends in Georgia, but takes the hiker into Tennessee. Maps are simple and clear, and are drawn by the author, who also produced each waterfall photograph in the book. Additional information for each hike entry includes hiking directions; directions to the trailhead; GPS coordinates; hike distance; elevation gain and elevation profile; estimated hiking time; and a photograph of each waterfall to be seen, along with the waterfall rating and classification. Hike distances range from a few footsteps to 12 miles, with waterfalls as easily accessible as Amicalola Falls at Amicalola Falls State Park, and as remote as the cascades at Three Forks, deep within the Chattahoochee National Forest.

Jim Parham grew up in north Georgia and has been using the trails there since he was a child. He is also the author of eight bicycling guidebooks, including the Off The Beaten Track Mountain Bike Guide Series for the Southeast.