Georgia Natural Wonder #87 - Lake Seed & Lake Burton Area – Wildcat Creek. 1,165

[Top Row Dawg]

Georgia Natural Wonder #87 - Lake Seed & Lake Burton Area – Wildcat Creek

Only three more places for the top 100. I have personal memories on these last three and plenty of personal photos. Wildcat Creek should not be this low on the GNW list.


TRD makes a great surf board.

Rabun County has already given us 10 Georgia Natural Wonders with

Tallulah Gorge GNW #6

Chattooga River Section 0 – I  GNW #16

Chattooga River Section II – III GNW #17

Chattooga River Section IV GNW #18

Tallulah Basin GNW #25

Moccasin Creek Falls GNW #36

Lake Rabun Area GNW #41

Rabun Bald – Bartram Trail GNW #68     

Dick's Knob GNW #69      

Unnamed Peak on Grassy Ridge - Rabun County GNW #72

I see several more for future Wonders. For Georgia Natural Wonder #87 (#11 in Rabun County) we explore the Lake Seed and Lake Burton Area including Wildcat Creek.                                                                                                                                                       


Otis does not wish to slide down the Wildcat.

North Georgia’s lakes, rivers, and streams are more than just places to fish, pitch camp, or spend the day boating. They are part of the culture and history of the mountains and each has a story to tell. Whether the story is fact, fiction, or something in between, all contribute to the local culture and strong sense of place typical of the region.



The burning desire for a new invention called electricity was the driving force behind six small hydro-power reservoirs that make up Georgia Power Company’s North Georgia Hydro Group. Each of the six reservoirs is a testament to man’s desire to harness Mother Nature, and each has a unique story. We already told the story of Lake Rabun and we explored the waterfalls around it. There was Angel Falls and Panther Falls in the Lake Rabun Beach Recreation Area. We saw the spectacular Minnehaha falls, which is featured in my signature. Lastly we traveled to the north end of the lake to Crow Creek Falls and Bad Branch Falls. These two may have technically been on Lake Seed. Start today’s travel of this natural Wonder at the Nacoochee Recreation Park. You head north on Lake Rabun Road on the east side of Lake Rabun to get here.


You can see the old Tallulah River for a few hundred yards between Lake Rabun and Lake Seed.

Nacoochee Park is just one of the recreation areas along Lake Rabun's 25 miles of shoreline. Located on the north end of the lake, Nacoochee Park recreation area is perfect for a picnic, fishing on a river-like setting or just relaxing. There is also a view of the Nacoochee dam and powerhouse. The park contains picnic facilities, restrooms and a bank fishing area. It is located just off of Lake Rabun Road.


Seed Lake was formed in 1927 with the completion of the Nacoochee Dam, a gravity concrete and masonry dam that is 75 feet high and spans 490 feet. The associated Nacoochee Hydroelectric Plant has a capacity of 4,800 kilowatts.

The name “Nacoochee” comes from the Cherokee language and means “evening star.” The Nacoochee Plant was completed in 1926 by the Georgia Railway and Power Company. Shortly after construction was completed, the company consolidated with several others to form the modern-day Georgia Power Company.



Seed Lake is a 240-acre reservoir with 13 miles of shoreline located in Rabun County, in the northeastern corner of Georgia, United States. Lake Seed is sandwiched between the northernmost lake in the series, Lake Burton, and Lake Rabun. You head north from the dam and Nacoochee Park on Lake Seed Road on the east side of Lake Seed. You come to an intersection in a few miles to turn left on Burton Dam Road or right on Bridge Creek Road. Bridge Creek Falls is a private property water fall on Bridge Creek and I snuck these photos years ago by sliding down the access to the Bridge Creek Road. It’s pretty much right there at this intersection.



Shame these are private property as they are part of Georgia Natural Wonder #87.


Bridge Creek Falls

Go back left on Burton Dam Road and check out Lake Burton Dam.



The lake was built in a deep valley located along a 10-mile section of the Tallulah River. The Lake Burton Dam was closed on December 22, 1919 and the lake started to fill. The dam is a gravity concrete dam, with a height of 128 feet and a span of 1,100 feet. The spillway is equipped with eight gates 22 feet wide by 6.6 feet high. The total capacity at an elevation of 1,866.6 feet is 108,000 acres. The generating capacity of the dam is 6,120 kilowatts. Lake Burton is the highest Georgia Power Lake in Georgia. House owners rent the land under 99 year leases and all the land is owned by Georgia Power.



We have seen two dams and now two waterfalls after the next part of today’s GNW. You might not get to the first fall because its trespassing, and you might not make it to this fall because it’s too hard to find the starting point and most of the hike is a bushwhack. We are looking for Horse Branch Falls. It is exactly 1.6 miles from Highway 197, so if you dead end there go back. The pull out for the old logging road is on the south side. There may an old rotting oak with a red band painted around it. Of course this Mark Morrison book is twenty years old now, rotting oaks in 1995 may have rotted by now. For further identification there is a hollow on both the north and south sides of the road. A power line also crosses the road so find it and park here.


Bernie Boyer narrates the rest of this hike from gawaterfalls.com

The old logging road descends toward the creek turns right, crosses a little feeder stream, ascends a low ridge and heads up Horse Branch.



Then, forget about it! All bushwhack from here! The most favorable route is near, or in, the creek.


Looking up stream. That is the way you want to go!

A mossy log along the tight trail and creek.



Then a cliff in the distance as you enter in a cirque – like area with stratified – rock cliffs of 70 feet, hemlocks tower 200 feet above the viewpoint.



The falls drops a sheer 45 feet into a rock base and then spilling over a bedrock stair case.



My photos of the fall, took these just for this post.


Horse Branch Falls

Me and Otis found these falls years ago.



The Rock Wall on the left weeps nutrients to hundreds of aquatic plants.



My thanks to Mark Morrison for his directions. I can't emphasize enough how difficult this hike is. Although only 0.3 or 0.4 miles from the car, well over an hour to find and linger.



Go back to Hwy. 197 and go north toward Moccasin Creek State Park. Lake Burton's name was derived from the town of Burton, which was the second largest town in Rabun County with a population of approximately 200. The town (and the lake) was named after local prominent citizen Jeremiah Burton and was situated along the road from Clayton, Georgia to the Nacoochee Valley.



Jeremiah Burton (1814 – January 9, 1902) was a farmer. He was born about 1814 in South Carolina before moving to Rabun County, Georgia and first settled at Jones Ford on the Tallulah River. The town of Burton, Georgia was named after its Postmaster Jacob Silas Burton, Jeremiah's son. Jeremiah Burton was a popular area citizen who occasionally served as a bailiff for the local superior court. According to family legend, he was buried with his hat on.


One of the Burton men and his women.

Formed a century earlier as one of the first gold rush towns in north Georgia, Burton was located at the junction of the Tallulah River and Moccasin Creek. Just north of the town was the confluence of Dick's Creek and the Tallulah River, the site of the first discovery of gold in Rabun County.


General Store at Burton - Burton's town center consisted of a church/school building and a general store that also served as a post office. Any supplies had to be brought in with a day's wagon ride to Clayton or Tiger.

In addition to gold, the corundum mines of Tate City provided work for area men. The city was located on an old road running from Clayton to the Nachoochee Valley where it joined the old Unicoi Turnpike in the vicinity of the Old Sautee Store.


Bridge across Tallulah River in downtown Burton is now a dive site under Lake Burton.

Andrew Richey, who would become famous as an educator at the Rabun-Nachoochee Gap School and writer of a widely read county history book, served as postman for the area for a number of years prior to 1900. The Byrd-Mathews Lumber Company built a narrow gauge railroad into the city to haul lumber from the nearby mountains to its lumber mill in Helen.


The town of Burton was displaced when the dam created a reservoir. Many buildings were moved, but some were left to be washed to the dam. The lake was completely filled by August of 1920.

The Tallulah River supplied power for a number of businesses in and near the city. Commerce grew and by the time the town was bought by the Georgia Railway and Electric Company in 1917 it boasted three general stores.


Burton Dam Construction.

Georgia Railway and Electric Company bought the town. The purchase was completed shortly after United States entry into World War I. Created in 1919 Lake Burton is small as Georgia reservoirs go, but its impacts were felt in many ways, not all of which were looked upon as positive. The village of Burton, Georgia and 65 surrounding homesteads had to be purchased before the reservoir could be built. The former town now lies below the lake's surface. Many area residents, including the widow of Confederate General James Longstreet, were not happy to see the modern age coming to their small corner of the mountains if it meant losing the land and river to the lake’s rising waters. Although for the good of the many prevailed over the wishes of a few, the controversy did result in much of the area’s history being saved or documented that might have otherwise passed into oblivion.



The Lake Burton Fish Hatchery and Moccasin Creek State Park are located on the lake's west side. Covered extensively as the Crown Jewell of Lake Burton in GNW #38 (above link). The lake is home to several species of fish, including spotted bass, largemouth bass, white bass, black crappie, bluegill, redear sunfish, white catfish, walleye, brown trout, rainbow trout, and yellow perch.


Even a Vol fan can fish well on Lake Burton.

The residents of Lake Burton are a mix of permanent residents and seasonal vacationers who together make-up the Lake Burton Civic Association, a local organization whose goal is to maintain the lake through volunteer clean-ups and other such events. The majority of the homes on the lake are on land leased from Georgia Power while the remaining are fee simple properties. Home prices on the lake range from three hundred thousand to twenty million dollars.


Nick Saban’s pad.

The lake’s shoreline dotted with cabins, summer homes, and fish camps has served as a vacation destination for generations of Georgians. Of particular note is LaPrade’s on the west side of the lake. Built as a camp for dam construction workers in the 1910s, LaPrade’s has been in continuous operation as a fish camp since the 1920s. The camp offers meals, lodging, and marina service.



Fourth of July fireworks at Lake Burton have been an annual tradition for more than 25 years. The fireworks display was begun in 1976 in honor of the bicentennial by homeowners led by Mason Whitney and continues to be run for over 30 years by a lifelong Lake Burton resident, Hal Rhoad. Though not a Lake Burton Civic Association sponsored event, the July 4th fireworks display is funded by donations from Lake Burton area residents and visitors. The fireworks are set off the Saturday closest to July 4 from Billy Goat Island, an island on the south side of the lake. Most people view the fireworks from boats driven near the island. As Lake Burton is set in the Appalachian Mountains the fireworks echo off the surrounding mountains, providing another auditory level to the visual feast of the fireworks.



One last part of this Georgia Natural Wonder is Wildcat Creek. Now this should probably be a GNW all by itself but I am lumping it in here to make this a top 100 worthy post. The Creek is right off Hwy. 197, just south of Moccasin Creek State Park. There are two primitive style “campgrounds” set back down the road. The Lower Campground is 2.8 miles in after turning off GA-197 onto Wildcat Creek Road while the Upper Campground is 4.4 miles in. Both are on the right and can’t be missed.  About 1.3 miles in, you pass a 300 foot cascade down on the creek to your left.



You are well above the Creek at this point.


Looking down through the trees at the first falls.



Slide down the bank dang it and get a proper photo of falls TRD.


Lowest falls on Wildcat Creek.

Wildcat Creek is not surprisingly named after the creek that runs alongside this forest service road virtually the entire way. But the whole road has little streams and creeks cutting under you and beside you the whole way. There are no less than a half dozen: Jessie Branch, Hellhole Branch, Betty Branch, Carol Branch, Alice Branch, Mary Anne Branch. Perry Cove Branch. South Fork Moccasin Creek. Woods Branch. The whole place is just a series of connecting streams and branches.


Spots all along Wildcat Creek. Stay Otis stay.

Whether you decide to camp or stay, there are two spots along the creek that you should definitely check out. The first is a “sliding rock” about a mile in on the left (before you get to the campground area). It’s not big but the water at the bottom is shallow and makes this a great place for kids. Don’t expect a big sliding rock but on a hot summer day it always hits the spot.


TRD sits like Buddha as his daughters and nieces run the Wildcat.


Train!!!!


Not my kid, but what a photo.

The second spot is just past the first campground where the road makes a big round bend (not quite a horse shoe but close enough). The road widens out pretty big and down on your right you’ll see what looks like a big clearing flush with trees and ferns. Park on the left hand side of the road where there looks like a little parking spot and follow the little foot worn path through the ferns down on the right hand side of the road. It’ll take you to a series of small falls and a huge rock that is undercut.



Otis is slap wore out. He ain’t going nowhere.



This fall is downstream of the big rock where Otis is still staying.



Yep, Otis is still there.



To get to the “falls” and the big undercut rock, follow the foot worn path until you get to the creek, then hike up 1-2 levels to your left in the creek and you’ll see the spots we’re talking about. This is a one of our favorite “locals only” spots to hang up a hammock and spend the afternoon reading a book and having a picnic. It’s hidden from the road and is always cool even in the hottest parts of the summer. And no one is ever back there unlike the sliding rock mentioned above, which is always full of people in a small area.


Time to call it a Post Otis says.

Wildcat Creek isn’t the most eye opening spot in North Georgia. There are no huge waterfalls or “wow” moments. But no place more perfectly captures the quiet solitude you can find in the mountains of North Georgia than here. It’s simple. It’s quaint. It’s all woods. It’s all streams. It’s just about perfect. If you don’t need something super fancy, this is about as good as it gets.


Today’s GNW Gal gets bonus points for being able to selfie her plunge down the Wildcat.