Georgia's Trusted Local Source for Waterfall Explorations Since 2018
MY STORY
“ Waterfalls take my breath away with their magnificent energy and grandeur ... they soothe my mind and warm my heart with the gentle sound and perpetual motion of their rushing waters ... their crystal-clear swimming holes refresh my spirit in the midsummer heat ... ”
-Mark Ozboyd
Howdy, fellow explorer! If you're here to learn about all things waterfalls, you've come to the right place.
I'm Mark Oleg Ozboyd, born and raised in Georgia. Exploring waterfalls is my passion. In the summer of 2018, I founded GAWaterfalls.com at the age of 17. I published my book, Waterfalls of Georgia, six years later in 2024. I've been crisscrossing our state in search of hidden waterfalls ever since I was a little kid.
The first waterfall I ever laid eyes upon was Amicalola Falls. I had the comfort of a birds-eye vantage point atop my father's back, for I couldn't yet walk. While many kids spoke of merry-go-rounds and video games, Georgia State Parks were my childhood playground. This seed that my parents planted at an early age flourished into my passion for chasing waterfalls.
I've always had a knack for navigation. Road signs were how I began learning to read at the age of 4. As a child, I spent my downtime drawing hundreds of road maps by hand. It comes as no surprise that navigating my way through the woods to hidden waterfalls came naturally to me.
As the years went by, my waterfall journey evolved from popular state parks to obscure unmaintained paths. It was here that I encountered a surprise. As it turns out, the state of Georgia contains hundreds of seldom-visited waterfalls, all too often known only to sauntering fishermen. At best, directions were often limited to a few scant sentences on some online blog. Observing how the lack of specific information often hoodwinked unsuspecting hikers, I decided it was time for a change and took matters into my own hands.
Sea Creek Falls, GA
A First-of-Its-Kind Authoritative Waterfall Resource
The mission of my Georgia Waterfall Database is to provide the outdoor community with an authoritative source for the documentation of every known waterfall within our state. I'm committed to providing the most accurate information on locations, access details, land ownership, and pictures. This website is the first-ever comprehensive directory to Georgia waterfalls and is kept continuously up to date with new discoveries as our state becomes more explored.
Growing up as a teenager, I remember following with religious fervor Jack Anthony's website about the waterfalls of North Georgia: www.jjanthony.com/waterfalls. Jack was among the early pioneers of Georgia waterfallin'. His website was once considered the authoritative online source for all things waterfalls in this state. At the time, it featured a whopping 125 waterfalls. We now know the true number of waterfalls in Georgia to be somewhere near 900, with new ones still being documented to this day.
When Jack's website went permanently offline in 2016, the outdoor community of Georgia was left with a gaping hole. Meanwhile, I kept coming across new waterfalls that had gone unnoticed by Jack, hidden away deeper in the hollers. It was then I asked myself: what if I picked up the mantle and rebuilt a new website similar to Jack's, but even better? I felt it was not fair to keep these amazing places to myself. I wanted to share the beauty of our state with waterfall enthusiasts and help families make lifelong memories at these natural treasures. I wanted others to share these experiences that I felt tremendously fortunate to grow up with as a Georgian.
Eight Years of Waterfall Research
I was a rising senior in high school during the summer of 2018. Throughout the entire summer, I spent 25 hours each week organizing the Georgia Waterfall Database. I brought together a group of Georgia's finest waterfall masterminds, guys like Greg Ford, Bernie Boyer, and Alan Cressler who had seen many more waterfalls than me. We brainstormed and compiled information about all the obscure waterfalls we'd ever heard of. By fall, www.GAWaterfalls.com was born.
When I first published this website, it contained about 450 waterfalls, ranging from the lofty north Georgia mountains to metro Atlanta to even the flatlands of central and south Georgia. As you can see, that number has nearly doubled in the eight years since. The initial iteration of this database was just the start. I wanted to keep finding new waterfalls, I wanted to write detailed directions to each one, and I wasn't going to stop until I saw them all.
During the years that followed, my quest to leave no stone unturned led me to Georgia's most far-flung corners. The journey took me to new waterfalls far more breathtaking than I could've ever imagined. It took me to unknown waterfalls never once documented in any publications. It brought me to dud waterfalls that weren't worth the effort. And it led me on repeat hikes to Georgia's most esteemed waterfall classics in search of that elusive perfect photo.
The fruits of it all were borne by my 2024 book, Waterfalls of Georgia, the most challenging yet rewarding project I've ever undertaken. My work was no longer a mere database in the interwebs, but rather a detailed guidebook with turn-by-turn directions and hiking maps for 735 waterfalls. I tried my darnedest to include every Georgia waterfall I knew about in the book. Even so, over 150 additional waterfalls have since been found, which I've now added to this website.
Upper Darnell Creek Falls, GA
The New Frontier
I am excited to finally announce the new home for the Georgia Waterfall Database. I've put a lot of time and effort into modernizing the website, adding many new features, and turning it into a versatile platform for the outdoors community that will withstand the test of time.
My website and my book are designed to complement each other. While my book includes much more detailed directions, its inherent nature means a book cannot be updated with anywhere near the same frequency as a website. This website will always have every known waterfall in the state, and each new waterfall submission will be catalogued here. Additionally, the website is a way for people to learn about changes to access information that have transpired since my book was last printed.
I depend on input from other waterfallers and the outdoor community at large to learn about new waterfalls or updates for existing ones. If you find something missing from the database, please reach out below. I hope you enjoy this website and use it to discover the beautiful waterfalls of Georgia. Whether you're just starting out on your first waterfall journey or are already an experienced hiker, I expect the Georgia Waterfall Database to become your indispensable companion.
Happy waterfallin'
Mark Ozboyd, Founder and Author of Waterfalls of Georgia
L to R: Greg Ford, Bernie Boyer, and Mark Ozboyd
at Goldmine Branch Falls, GA
Acknowledgements
This website would have never come to fruition without the contributions of many extraordinary waterfall explorers, who have put countless hours of their own time into exploring uncharted areas of the state, conducting historical research, and capturing photographs. I must express my deepest gratitude to two of Georgia's most esteemed waterfall gurus, Greg Ford and Bernie Boyer, who single-handedly documented several hundred previously-unknown waterfalls in the state. I especially want to commend these two men for their generosity in sharing their vast volume of hard-earned work with the public, inspiring the next generation of waterfall enthusiasts to experience these magnificent places for themselves. In addition, my thanks go out to Alan Cressler, Aidan Dealy, Andy Kunkle, Anna Pearce, Ben Smith, Beth Bradshaw, Christopher Cockfield, Dave Greenspan, Glenn Benton, Jack Anthony, Jennifer Johnson, Ken Steinkamp, Logan Barrett, Mike Hiler, Morgan Kephart, Nick Brindle, Phil Truelove, Robert Shaw, Renee Hattenstein, Stephanie Leigh, Stephen Carter, and many others for kindly allowing me to share their excellent pictures and notes.
