Upper DeSoto Falls is a 130-foot waterfall in Lumpkin County, Georgia, on a tributary north of the more heavily visited falls that most hikers reach on the maintained DeSoto Falls trail.
The falls
The World Waterfall Database gives this waterfall, which it identifies as the historical true Upper DeSoto Falls, a confirmed height of 130 feet. It sits on a tributary north of the more heavily visited waterfall downstream, which is commonly but incorrectly called Upper Falls; that lower waterfall is a separate feature, published at 120 feet.
Getting there
The trail that once reached this waterfall is no longer maintained, and no current public route to it has been documented. A separate, maintained trail nearby, reached with a Recreation.gov activity pass, leads 0.25 mile to Lower Falls and 0.75 mile to the waterfall commonly called Upper Falls, but that trail serves the different, lower waterfall, not this one; climbing, swimming and jumping are banned at those maintained overlooks.
On site
Viewpoints, swimming rules and incident history for this exact waterfall are not documented.
History and name
The middle waterfall downstream carries the Upper DeSoto Falls name in common use, but incorrectly. A separate waterfall farther upstream on the same tributary is now called High Water Falls.
Nearby
DeSoto Falls is about 0.5 mile away. Lower DeSoto Falls is about 1.1 miles, and Nottely Falls about 1.4 miles.
Distances are straight-line.