What to See in Helen - Top Sights and Attractions

Mountain in Georgia. Yonah Mountain is a mountain ridge located in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest in Georgia, United States. It is between the towns of Cleveland and Helen. Yonah is the Cherokee word for Bear.

There is a signed trailhead from Chambers Road and an approximately 2.3 mile trail (gaining 1500 feet in elevation) leads to the summit. There are also side trails that lead to neighboring Pink Mountain.

The 5th Ranger Training Battalion, Ranger Training Brigade of the United States Army conducts the Mountain Phase of Ranger School on Yonah Mountain. It has been a popular training ground for rock climbers.

Like Lookout Mountain's Rock City, Yonah Mountain is the site of a Native American legend about a beautiful Cherokee maiden named Nacoochee who fell in love with the Chickasaw warrior Sautee. When their love was forbidden by their tribal elders, a war party followed the eloping lovers and threw Sautee off the mountain, with Nacoochee then jumping to her death, a Lover's Leap. Although he did not invent the legend, George Williams, the son of one of the original white settlers, popularized it in his 1871 Sketches of Travel in the Old and New World.^[1]

Hiking area in the Towns County, Georgia. Blue Hole Falls located on High Shoals Creek in the High Shoals Scenic Area of the Chattahoochee National Forest in Towns County, Georgia, United States.

The falls can be accessed via the High Shoals Trail, a well-maintained 1.2 mile trail to the larger High Shoals Creek Falls downstream. The trailhead is accessed via Indian Grave Gap Road (Forest Service Road 283), a gravel road located about 11.5 miles north of Helen, GA on GA Highway 17/75. The road fords a shallow creek about 100 yards from the entrance at GA Highway 17/75, but the ford does not require a four-wheel drive vehicle to cross under normal conditions.

To reach Blue Hole Falls requires a one-mile hike downhill via the High Shoals Trail. There are several easily identifiable primitive campsites with fire rings located between the latter half of the trail and High Shoals Creek that offer camping to large and small groups. A small observation deck overlooks the falls as they cascade into Blue Hole. Blue Hole reaches depths of more than ten feet, and is a common destination for swimmers, hikers, and campers during the summer months, when the creek temperature remains in the 40s Fahrenheit.^[2]

Waterfall in Georgia. The DeSoto Falls of Georgia are located in Lumpkin County, Georgia along Frogtown Creek. There are actually three waterfalls on Frogtown Creek, called Upper DeSoto Falls, Middle Desoto Falls and Lower DeSoto Falls. The upper waterfall drops 200 feet, the middle waterfall drops 67 feet and the lower waterfall drops 35 feet. The overall height of the falls, as measured inclusive of non-vertical falls, cascades and steep stream bed, is 480 feet. DeSoto Falls are located at an elevation of 3,560-foot on Rocky Mountain.

The DeSoto Falls are named for Spanish explorer Hernando deSoto, who passed through Georgia around 1540. According to a sign posted on the DeSoto Falls Trail, a 2.4-mile (3.9 km) in and out hiking trail to the falls, a plate of armor was discovered at the base of the falls in the 1880s.

The falls are part of the Chattahoochee National Forest and located in a 650-acre (2.6 km2) area designated the Desoto Falls Scenic Area. There is also a campground located along the banks of Frogtown Creek. DeSoto Falls is one of four popular waterfalls in the Forest located near Helen, Georgia. The other three popular waterfalls are Anna Ruby Falls, Dukes Creek Falls and Raven Cliff Falls, all located in neighboring White County.^[4]

Fall in Georgia. Horsetrough Falls, 300 feet below Chattahoochee Gap on Coon's Den Ridge, are located on one of the flanks of Horsetrough Mountain in Union County, Georgia, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains. This 70-foot waterfall is located on a creek that is part of the headwaters of the Chattahoochee River, which forms within a mile of the falls, and located within the Mark Trail Wilderness. There is an observation platform at the falls which can be reached by the 0.4-mile Horsetrough Falls Trail. The trail begins at the nearby Upper Chattahoochee Campground camping area, which is maintained and operated by the Chattooga Ranger District of the Chattahoochee National Forest. The Eastern Continental Divide follows the main ridge line of Horsetrough Mountain and the water passes over Horsetrough Falls to begin a 500-mile journey to the Gulf of Mexico via the Chattahoochee River.

On many lists of places to visit in North Georgia, Horsetrough Falls was listed as one of "40 must-visit waterfalls in North Georgia" by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.^[5]