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Explorations Along Upper Gurley Creek and a Revisit to the Main Falls Towns County, GA |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2020) |
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Explorations Along Upper Gurley Creek and a Revisit to the Main Falls Towns County, GA |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2020) |
| Late January 2020 I went looking for three homesites which showed on the old maps along a tributary of Gurley Creek. I only located two of them; and only one had any (barely) recognizable remains. |
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| The stone foundations of the left and front walls are visible, and from the shadow you can faintly make out the cellar dug below the center of the home. Remains of the chimney pile are barely visible at the rear. |
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| Late February 2020 I returned to look for a fourth homesite at the confluence of two creeks. Back in the day, this location was known as Gurley Fields, and I found the area, still somewhat free of large trees. I also found what I believe was the old home site, now just a few overgrown bulldozed piles... |
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| Where the creek runs alongside the old homestead, I found a series of old sawn logs arranged to create flumes and gravel bars. I wasn't quite sure what to make of them, but now I believe they were the remains of some creek restoration performed by Trout Unlimited some years ago. |
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| I realized that I wasn't too far away from the Gurley Creek Falls that are usually accessed from Enota Retreat. I headed downstream to see if there might be other features above those falls... |
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| I first came to the remains of an old dam. |
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| This dam was used to collect water, which was then piped down via a 3 inch iron pipe to the hydroelectric generator shed near the main waterfalls above Enota. |
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| The dam is just above the crest of the escarpment, so I continued down to see if there was anything else between that point and the main waterfalls. |
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| Sure 'nuff, there are two additional drops above the main falls, each about 12 feet high. This view from an adjacent old logging road reveals that it was kind of a mess in there! |
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| I scrambled down to the upper of the two drops, and with some landscaping of the rhodies, I managed to get a fairly clear shot. |
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| Early March 2020 I was driving by Enota on my way to another site, and it had just stopped raining. Since I hadn't visited the main falls in 5 years, and there was a good flow of water, I got permission and made a short visit to the two main Gurley falls. It was rather slick on both the way up and back down! |
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| Upper Gurley Creek Falls This traditional name is kind of a misnomer after discovering the pair of falls upstream a week earlier... |
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| Lower Gurley Creek Falls This falls is much higher than it looks in the photo; the tight shooting area at the falls' base shortens the perspective. |
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| Old hydro-electric shed and water tank The pipes carried water down from the old dam pictured earlier. Camp Enota was originally YMCA Camp Pioneer, established in the early 1940s. It was built by the CCC boys of Co. 427, Camp Soapstone P-73, just down the road. |