High Falls State Park, Georgia
High Falls State Park is a 1,050-acre state park located near the city of Jackson in Monroe County, Georgia. It has a 650-acre High Falls Lake lake and the largest waterfall in middle Georgia over the Towaliga River.
History goes that the HIgh Falls town used to be a prosperous industrial town with several stores, but became a ghost town in 1880s when it was by passed by a major railroad.
Trail
Date: October 2, 2020
We made a stop on our return trip from St Augustine, FL. We exited I-75, took the High Falls Rd, and right before reaching the Towaliga River, parked on the Lake Falls Park Dr, which offered a very nice view of the dam. Then we walked over the bridge to the other side of the river to reach the trail entrance of the High Falls Trail. As the dam is at the throat of the river connecting to the High Falls Lake, I am not sure whether the river formed the lake by the dam, or the lake leaks out to become the river.
Length: 1.1 miles
Level: Moderate
This is a very easy trail without too much altitude elevation. We started by the river side, which has fantastic view of the falls which were just a few steps away from the trail head. The falls has mainly two cascades and it is fairly wide and spectacular. We didn’t expect to see much at the back circle, but the spotting some beautiful mushrooms in the woods was a pleasant surprise.
We didn’t spend much time in anywhere else nearby. If you have extra time, you might want to check out the old grist mail and ruins of the old powerhouse, to know more about the glorious history of the HIgh Falls town and its story of became a ghost town since 1880s.
*Link to AllTrails: https://www.alltrails.com/explore/trail/us/georgia/high-falls-trail
