Accessibility – Hard+
Height – 80′ (Battle Creek Falls)
Distance – 4.4 miles (out and back)
Beauty – 9
Photo rating – 8
Solitude – 9
GPS Info: LAT 34.71113 LONG -83.34091
Last Updated – 02-23-2025
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Note: On a difficulty scale, this one is way up near the top of the list. It’s not even that the hike is hard and much as dangerous. Getting to Upper Battle Creek Falls is not to be taken lightly. The terrain by the falls is extrmely steep, and there isn’t anything to grab onto if you slip. Getting to the two waterfalls above Battle Creek Falls will have you sidehilling at the top of Battle Creek Falls, and making a steep climb down near the brink.
The trailhead: The parking for access to the waterfalls on Battle Creek is in a roadside pullout on the side of Bull Sluice Road, which is nowhere near Bull Sluice. The wide area is on the right side of the road, 2.9 miles from the intersecton with Damascus Church Road.
The hike: The hike starts across Bull Sluice Road on an unnamed logging road that is gated and marked as “No Camping.” The initial climb is barely 0.1 of a mile, and from there, the road will undulate along the ridge line for approximately 1.4 miles to an intersection. The more obvious road goes to the left, but the one to get to Battle Creek Falls continues straight, descending slightly from the junction. If you do this right, on the way out, you will end up on the other fork, but how you approach getting back is up to you. The road isn’t hard to follow, but it will begin to deteriorate after about another 0.3 of a mile. This is close to the top of a low knob. When the road goes over the backside of the knob, there is a ton of downfall to contend with, stands of small white pine, and an abundance of briers.
The details from here are going to get sketchy since there is no trail to speak of, and the old road that leads to this point periodically gets swallowed by the forest. You’ll know you’re on the right track if you look to your left and you see a much more open hillside across a shallow valley. That’s the way out. Our trek from the top of the knob to a point where we could hear the falls was a gradual right-hand bend close to 0.4 miles long. The first part is on a moderate grade, and from there, your ankles and knees are going to hurt from the grade. It was wicked steep heading down and the hillside was covered in leaves. There aren’t any landmarks I can give you, but keep the sound of the waterfall to your left to ensure you end up at the base, not above it. Over the final 0.2 of a mile, the descent is more than 350 feet.
There is a large sloped rock at the base of Battle Creek Falls on river right, which was a great place to break for lunch, which we did on our way back upstream after visiting the two smaller waterfalls downstream. Battle Creek Falls is the highlight of this trip, and adding up the overall appeal of the other four doesn’t even come close to how impressive this one is. It would be worth the hard hike just to see Battle Creek Falls.
| Waterfall | GPS | Height | Rating |
| Battle Creek Falls | 34.71113, -83.34091 | 80-90 feet | 9 |
| Split Personailty Falls | 34.71056, -83.34099 | 12-16 feet | 5 |
| Divided Falls | 34.71034, -83.34147 | 20 feet of drops | 4 |
| Upper Battle Creek Falls | 34.71177, -83.34102 | 24 feet | 7 |
| Battle Creek Canyon Falls | 34.71241, -83.34101 | 25 feet | 6 |
To get to the two waterfalls downstream, remain on river right for a short time until the land forces you to cross. There is a large sandy area across the creek at the point where we got to river left, and from there, we stayed on river left until reaching the base of Split Personality Falls, which is less than 0.1 of a mile from Battle Creek Falls. The waterfall splits around an island and forms two very distinct drops, which inspired the name. Cross again downstream of the falls, and less than 0.1 of a mile, you will pass the top of Divided Falls and come to a huge boulder that overlooks the falls, which is a collection of small drops with a nice finish. It’s an okay waterfall, and since it’s not hard to reach, it’s worth the minimal effort required to add it to the day. Head back to the base of Battle Creek Falls.
Now what? Well, Upper Battle Creek Falls is just out of sight around the bend at the top of Battle Creek Falls, and the only way to it is to climb back up the way you came down and then carefully sidehill toward the top of the falls. The whole thing is awful, and most people will not like getting to the top of the falls, with only 10 feet of sloped hillside with no trees between you and likely tumbling down an 80-foot-high waterfall. I did it once. I don’t need to do it again. Once you get to the top of Battle Creek Falls, there is about an 8-10 foot descent that is nearly vertical to reach a sloped rock at the top of Battle Creek Falls. The upper falls are just upstream. Am I overdoing it on this one? Not in the least.
After climbing back up the sketchy embankment, the hike heads up the mountain toward the final drop. To get to Battle Creek Canyon Falls, we climbed away from the creek for only a short time and then side-hilled our way to the target. It isn’t quite as sketchy as the last one, but there are some spots that require more caution than others. There is a sloped rock in front of the falls that you can slide down to cross the creek to see the waterfall, which is hidden from view on river right. I went down to the base under the huge boulder, and the view was limited. I’ll go back in the summer when getting my feet wet won’t bother me.
That’s all of them, and to get out, we went straight up the mountain for fifty feet, giving us a view of two small cascades upstream, at which point we began to sidehill into a valley that comes in on the left. It is thick in places, and we had to stay up and away from Battle Creek and the low-flow creek that runs through the valley. It sucked until we were bent around into the valley, and the woods slowly opened up and flattened out, leaving us in the open area we saw on the way in. The valley split, and we went to the right, climbing a small knob and eventually finding an old road that led to a game clearing. On the other side of the game clearing, the more defined road we saw at the split led us back to the intersection. Make a right and head for your car. You have 1.4 miles to go.
