Waterfalls Trail – Cloudland Canyon

Distance: 2.0 miles Elevation Gain: 600 ft Difficulty: Strenuous Type: Loop Surface: Rock steps, packed dirt, wooden stairs Activity: Hiking Best Season: Year-round Typical Time: 1:30 Fee: $5/vehicle Dogs: Yes, on leash Permit: No

The Waterfalls Trail descends into Cloudland Canyon via approximately 1,000 wooden and stone steps—Georgia's most dramatic staircase hike—to reach two spectacular waterfalls carved into the Pennsylvanian-age sandstone and shale of Lookout Mountain's eastern escarpment. Hemlock Falls drops 60 feet in a single curtain over a sandstone lip into a plunge pool fringed with eastern hemlock and rosebay rhododendron. Cherokee Falls, reached after a further creek-side scramble, drops 80 feet in a two-tiered cascade through a narrow sandstone gorge.

The canyon cuts 800 to 1,000 feet into the Cumberland Plateau's caprock, exposing geological layers spanning 300 million years of history. At canyon bottom, Daniel Creek flows year-round with clear, cold water over moss-covered boulders. Eastern hemlocks—threatened by the invasive woolly adelgid insect—still line the canyon walls in protected north-facing coves, and the park actively treats them. The steps concentrate the elevation change into a short, intense descent and ascent. Morning visits avoid crowds and catch the canyon in shade; early October brings rhododendron leaf color and migrating warblers moving through the gorge.