Thursday, August 3, 2017

8-3-17  3rd of 3 waterfalls today---Toccoa Falls!

The couple I chatted with at the first falls we went to today, Minnehaha Falls , told me about  Panther Falls and Toccoa Falls.  I hadn't read about either of them, so I'm glad they told me about them.  We did have a bit of trouble trying to find Toccoa Falls!  We were told it was on the college grounds, so you would think our car's navigator system would be able to find Toccoa College!  Wrong---instead we ended up on another goose chase.  We were told to turn down a couple dirt roads that actually happened to be gated off.  And, of course, we were out of data range, so I couldn't look for it on my phone.  Somehow, though, we did find it.  And it was worth it!!!
It was also a really short walk to the falls---maybe .1 miles?  Even Ken went to see this one.  This is the river right by the parking lot.
 This is the path to the falls.
 As soon as you turn the corner---bam---there's the falls!


It's odd that it's located on the college grounds and you have to go through a gate to get onto college property---especially since it was after 5 when we got there and the gate was wide open with noone inside the guard house.
 Ken sitting on a rock enjoying the view.
 On the morning of Nov 6, 1977, the dam holding back the lake above the 186' falls broke.   40 acres of water surged over the falls through the park, down the valley, through the campus, leaving in its wake: 39 dead and 60 injured.  All of the dead and injured were connected in some way with Toccoa Falls College.
This sign describes that incident, as well as some facts about the college.  There's a visitors' center here, too, but it closed at 5 and we weren't there until about 6:30. 
 One of the wild flowers along the short path.
It was easy to hop onto a major state highway from Toccoa.  I had hoped to find a cute little place to grab dinner before heading out, but we were on the highway before we knew it and heading back towards our neck of the woods.  Ended up stopping at a seafood place near Lake Lanier that we had often talked about trying---Coastal Breeze.  It was really nice and our food was very good.  I had a salad with blackened salmon on it and Ken got the fried catfish.  Great way to end a great day. 

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