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Snow Day! Hiking Panther Falls in the Lake Rabun Campground |Easy to Moderate (3 miles)

Lee DeLeo


Today we received about 4 inches of snow! The first good snow since 2022. Deciding to stay close to home, we hiked to Panther Falls, the first of two waterfalls on Angel Falls Trail, located in the Lake Rabun Campground. There are two parking areas that lead to the trailhead. The larger paved parking area is located in the Lake Rabun Recreation Area that includes boat ramp access to Lake Rabun and a swimming area. The second parking area is along the road a little closer to the trailhead. There is a very reasonable $5 fee to park that supports Georgia State Parks.



From the paved parking area there is a 1/2 mile long trail marked by a kelly green plastic blaze. The start of this trail can be found near the creek, between boat ramp parking and the other parking lots. While we normally take the trail, today we decided to walk the campground roads since the campground is closed in winter (Oct. 31 to mid April).



Lake Rabun Campground has 81 campsites, 21 with electricity and the majority with potable water. It is part of the Chattahoochee National Forest. Each campsite has a gravel flat, picnic table and firepit with grill grate.



The complete Angel Falls Trail is a 2.2 mile in and out. The first mile leads to Panther Falls and is pretty easy. This section is generally flat, but there are a few areas of heavy roots, rocks and mud. The second mile up to Angel Falls is steeper and of moderate difficulty.



Upon entering the trail you immediately come to a slowly acending falls with a view up the valley. There is a short climb along the rise of the falls before the trail flattens out all the way to Panther Falls.



Several informative signs along the trail educate hikers of the history and local flora of the area. To the left of the footbride (above) you can see the rock and mortar remanants of a "Spring in a Box". The rock work is circa 1933 when the Civilian Conservation Corps were camped in the valley below. There was no refrigeration during this time and the cold spring water in these stone boxes supplied a cool space to store milk, eggs, cheese and other perishables.



This trail allows you to see a wide variety of plants native to the North Georgia Appalachians, including Hemlock, Rhododendron, Mountain Laurel, and in the warmer months, diverse species of mushrooms and ferns.


You may notice most of the hemlocks along the trail have metal tags. This trail is one of the 144 Hemlock Conservation Areas established to mitigate the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), an invasive insect, that poses the single greatest threat to the health, sustainability, and future of native hemlocks across 17 affected eastern states. A hemlock infested with HWA dies within a couple years and the insects quickly spread. The Forest Service is working with partners and volunteers, including Save Georgia’s Hemlocks, area colleges and universities, and the Georgia Forestry Commission, to monitor and treat hemlocks and release and monitor predator beetles as part of an active maintenance and restoration program (fs.usda.gov). Further programs are offered through Save Georgia's Hemlocks to help local citizens identify and treat affected hemlocks on their personal property.


Snowy Walk to Panther Falls (with sound)

When you reach Panther falls there is a small pool, perfect for wading in the warmer months. Labrador retrievers believe water activities should be year round, so the girls enjoyed a wade in January. From here you can continue along the trail another 1/2 mile to reach Angel Falls. Today we decided to turn around at this point. The snow had turned to sleet and the path to Angel Falls becomes steeper and more narrow. We worried it may become too slippery on the return downhill decent.



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BLEU'S NEARBY RESTAURANT RECOMMENDATIONS:

  • Bleu Canoe

  • Lake Rabun Hotel


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