North Georgia offers a lot of great options for waterfalls. But very few offer you the opportunity to travers the river culminating in a waterfall that you can jump into. Jacks River Falls, located just on the Georgia side of the Georgia Tennessee border. Has a reputation for being hard to get to. There are two trail you can take. One is the easier and more popular Beech Bottom trail. The other, and one we will be focusing on today is the Jacks River Trail to Beech Bottom.
The Jacks River Trail to Beach bottom takes hikers 7+ miles up the Jacks River connecting to Beech Bottom, and Jacks River Falls. Crossing the river close to 10 times each way. Making this a difficult but fun day hike. Perfect for hotter weather. And the falls make for a great place to take have lunch a take swim.
Jacks River Falls – via Jacks River Trail to Beech Bottom
Trail Info
Distance: 14.8 Miles
Elevation Gain: 1,059ft
All Trails Link: Click Here *
*Note that all trails rates this trail as moderate. Based on the trails conditions and water lever it should be rated as difficult.
Tips for the Jacks River Falls – via Jacks River Trail to Beech Bottom
- This trail crosses the river more than a few times. You will be getting wet. And if it has rained recently the water can be swift on slick rocks. Making them hard to cross. Especially if you are carrying a larger pack.
- The trail is not well maintained and has a ton of blow downs and dead falls laying across the path. You will have to over, under, and around. See the video above for some of the obstacles. Again, this especially a tough if you have a larger pack.
- Plan on wearing shoes that have grip and that dry quickly.
- There is a good amount of coverage on the trail from the sun. But bring sun screen for the exposed river crossings.
- There is a swimming whole at the bottom and top of the falls. This is a great place to spend a few hours enjoying the scenery.
- You can jump into the falls, as you can see in the video. Before attempting this you should always do a swim in to make sure there is nothing at the bottom of the falls that you could get caught on. This is a real danger when jumping into any back country waterfall.
