Panther Creek Falls

For Day 5 of our trip, Cade and I went to Panther Creek Falls near Tallulah Falls, GA. It was either that or Three Forks (where three creeks come together to form the West Fork Chattooga River in northeast Georgia), and there was a flash flood watch today with a 100% chance of heavy thunderstorms in the afternoon, so we decided that a triple confluence of three substantial creeks was probably not the best place to hang out today.

The hike to Panther Creek Falls was fairly straightforward, so I’m not going to give much of a play-by-play. The trail follows Panther Creek downstream for 3.5 miles from the parking area to the waterfall. The trail was steep and hilly in certain sections, but it was more or less flat for most of the hike. There were several points where the trail had steep drop-offs of about 50 feet right next to it, so there were cables connected to metal posts that were anchored into the ground with concrete. Some of the posts had come up, though, so some sections were a bit sketchy.

( Click here for the full trip report with pictures and videos )

In summary, the swimming hole at Panther Creek Falls was not that great, at least not in terms of 'functionality'. It was mostly shallow, and you couldn’t really swim around without kicking rocks or submerged clutter. The upper pools were small and had the same problem. However, if an otherwise subpar swimming hole could get by on looks alone, it would be Panther Creek Falls. What it lacks in swimmability, it makes up for in aesthetics. It looks like a swim beach at a lake, but in an entirely natural setting with a waterfall in the background. In my opinion, it's worth seeing once, but it doesn't warrant repeated visitation if you're just in it for the swimming. However, I am kind of curious about what gems could be hidden on the downstream half of the trail. The creek has really clean, clear water, and while it was uneventful in most of the areas we saw, Panther Creek Falls shows that the creek is capable of producing some primo swimming holes. If I'm ever in the area again, I might check out the section of the creek downstream of Panther Creek Falls.