Adventures of a swimming hole aficionado

For the sixth and final day of our mountain swimming hole marathon, I dragged Cade to Three Forks in the extreme northeastern corner of Rabun County, Georgia (not to be confused with the better known Three Forks along the Appalachian Trail in north-central Georgia). Three Forks is where three creeks (Big Creek, Overflow Creek, and Holcomb Creek) converge at a single point to form the West Fork Chattooga River. Each of the tributaries has waterfalls, and at least two have swimming holes (in addition to the apparent swimming holes at the confluence). I can’t remember how exactly I came across the info for this one (I think I stumbled across a picture of Lower Big Creek Falls and it took off from there), but it took some researching to find out how to hit all the highlights in one hike. We were originally going to hike in from the west via the Three Forks Trail, but that route involves crossing Holcomb Creek above a waterfall, and crossing the West Fork Chattooga River at the confluence to access the waterfalls on Big and Overflow Creeks. The flash flood watch from yesterday was still in effect, and we weren’t sure how high the river would be, so we opted to approach from the east and follow Big Creek down to Three Forks, which would mean there would be no mandatory water crossings (except at the very beginning of the hike, and at that point it wouldn’t be a big loss to turn back). Most sources gave info for how to approach from the west, but Rich Stevenson of ncwaterfalls.com wrote a blog on how he approached from the east and hit all the highlights, so I used that as a guide. I also saved a screen capture of a Sherpa Guides map in my phone in case we had trouble navigating the network of unmarked trails through the woods. I was not sure how long the hike would be. One posting from the Atlanta Outdoor Club gave a figure of about 9 miles, and they ostensibly used the Big Creek route. I traced our estimated route (hiking down Big Creek to Three Forks, and then up Overflow Creek from Three Forks to Singley’s Falls) on Google Earth, and it looked to be about 2.5 to 3 miles one way, so I estimated it would be about 5-6 miles round trip.

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

In conclusion, this would have been a great swimming hole excursion if the creeks had been at less terrifying water levels, and we had gotten started earlier in the day. With three creeks and a river to explore, this could almost be a multi-day camping trip (if I were into camping). It looked like you could spend an entire day exploring each individual creek, so it was a challenge to hit all the highlights in a day hike. Today’s excursion felt a bit rushed, even though it took about six hours. I would definitely consider coming back here.

As much as I like swimming holes, I’m kind of relieved to be going home tomorrow. My entire body is sore after six days of hiking (especially today’s hike), and this has sort of confirmed that you can’t plan mountain swimming hole treks far in advance and expect conditions to be ideal (even though that’s really the only way to experience swimming holes that are too far from home to be done in a day trip).