Hiking to DeSoto Falls Alabama: Short and Easy Trails

Looking for a waterfall tucked away in the hills of northeast Alabama?  Look no further than DeSoto Falls in Alabama.  Hiking to DeSoto Falls Alabama (not the waterfall in the neighboring state of Georgia) is easy and perfect for just about anyone.  

While it is commonly thought that DeSoto Falls is in DeSoto State Park, THINK AGAIN!  

The waterfall is only 7 miles away, but NOT in Desoto State Park.  Trust me, I went through the same confusion!  The waterfall is located at DeSoto Falls Picnic Area.  

In this article I’ll discuss the location, where to park, fees to access the falls, and nearby camping options for your weekend away at DeSoto Falls Alabama.  

But more on that later.  For now, here are some important links that will help you plan your trip!

Important Links 

DeSoto Falls State Park website

DeSoto Falls Trail Map

Picnic Area Information – the falls are HERE

DeSoto State Park Camping – Make Reservations Here

DeSoto State Park Camping post

Hiking Backpack Checklist – Free to you!

Location

DeSoto Falls Alabama is located right on the border of Alabama and Georgia.  Just 2 hours and 15 minutes from Atlanta, GA, 1 hour and 45 minutes from Birmingham, AL and a measly 1 hour drive from Chattanooga, TN, these falls are perfect for a day trip or a weekend getaway.  

Remember, these falls are not in DeSoto State Park.  So the location to get to the falls can be found by typing a few different things in Google Maps.  

You can type

• DeSoto Falls 
• DeSoto Falls Picnic Area
• DeSoto Falls Trailhead

I do recommend you use Google Maps for the trailhead option because I have found that trailheads are not often searchable in Apple Maps or other direction apps.  

So if DeSoto Falls isn’t in the state park, where do you park?

Parking

I don’t always include a “parking” section for my hiking posts, but for this one I absolutely will.  

Because these trails are not in the state park, you have to drive to and park at the trailhead.  So I’ve included a map for you (linked here) and a screenshot below.

As you can see, the circled section is where you will need to park to access the 3 trails that lead you to the falls or to the overlook.  

You can also type in “DeSoto Falls Trailhead” into Google Maps and it will lead you right to this parking area.  

Time to spend here

Ah yes, the age old question: How much time should I spend at DeSoto Falls Alabama?

With DeSoto Falls being so close to several major cities, hiking to and around the falls is perfect for a day trip to the DeSoto Falls Picnic Area.  You could also camp at DeSoto State Park and make it a weekend trip for hiking and kayaking.  

In all honesty I think you only need 1 or 2 days here tops.  Here are a few ideas on how to spend your time at DeSoto Falls Alabama.  

Day Trip Idea: Bring the whole family and have an adventure day hiking around the falls, lunch in the picnic area and then rent or bring kayaks to kayak the West Fork of the Little River.  All of the trails total to less than 3 miles and the kayaking area is only a 2 mile paddle.

Weekend getaway idea (Our Choice) :  We were able to hike 2 of these trails, as well as a few more in DeSoto State Park in less than half a day.  The following day we packed up camp and kayaked on the West Fork of the Little River.  2 half-days of activity with some relaxing at our campground to mix it up.  

Below is our exact itinerary.  Feel free to use it, modify it or ignore it!  But here was our trip to DeSoto Falls Alabama.  

Our Itinerary

• Friday: Arrive and check-in at the campground.  We then set up our tent, made a quick and cheap hotdog dinner before heading to bed.
• Saturday: Woke up, made coffee and breakfast, headed towards the DeSoto Falls Trailhead parking lot pretty early.  The parking lot fills up very quickly, especially on a Saturday.  We then hiked to the basin below the falls and we also hiked the bluff trail.  Next we hiked 2 of the trails in DeSoto State Park.  Finally, we came back to the campground, made dinner, showered, and hit the hay.
• Sunday: Made breakfast, packed up camp, and headed to the boat ramp located at DeSoto Falls Picnic Area.  Our attempt at kayaking was short-lived thanks to our dog, but then we packed up and headed back home to Tennessee.  

So a day of hiking and a day of kayaking around DeSoto Falls Alabama was all that we needed.

Money Money Money

One important note, there are no fees to park at the DeSoto Falls Trailhead.  This is where you will hike to the basin below the falls or to the overlook.  

However, there is a $4 fee to park at the picnic area parking lot.  This is also where you will put in your kayaks or rent kayaks. So be aware of that.  

Ok, so maybe you’ve decided to go for a weekend trip.  But where can you easily camp to be near the action?

Camping at DeSoto State Park

Since DeSoto State Park is only 7 miles away from DeSoto Falls Alabama, my husband and I decided to camp in DeSoto State Park.  You can read more details here, but here is the gist of our experience.  

This park has 94 Full-Hook up sites that can accommodate tents and vans/campers/RVs as well.  They also have a primitive section with 18 tent-only sites.

We booked pretty last minute, so we chose a full hook-up site, even though we were just camping in our tent.  Our site was well shaded and offered a walking trail to the bathhouse.  We had a lot of space and privacy on this site, which we love finding at a campground!

The Full Hook-up sites are about $43 a night and the Primitive sites cost $17 a night.  

We definitely recommend this campground because of said space and shade.  Plus if you have a full hook-up rig, $40-ish per night isn’t bad at all!  Camping reservations can be made here.  

If you are interested in reading about our full camping experience, check out my other post on Camping in DeSoto State Park.

Trails

• Overlook Trail: 0.9 miles – Overlooks the Falls
• River Trail: 1.4 miles – Takes you to the basin that the waterfall flows into.  
• Bluff Trail: 0.64 miles – Leads you to the Ice Box Cave

The trails are clearly labeled and marked!  Yay for well-maintained trails.

Our Hikes

After parking at the trailhead, my husband, our yellow lab, and myself began by hiking the River Trail.  We then hiked back up the Bluff Trail and actually decided to skip the Overlook Trail because we wanted to hike elsewhere.  Let’s discuss the details!

River Trail: Down to the Basin Below the Falls

This trail begins at the back of the parking area and immediately comes to a split.  Take a quick right turn here and it leads you down the hill.  After you make this turn, the trail is pretty self-explanatory.  

You will pass two intersections with the Bluff Trail along the way, but I suggest heading to the falls before doing the Bluff Trail as it is less popular.  

After you pass that trail, the River Trail winds you along the river, past some large boulders until you reach the basin below DeSoto Falls Alabama.  You’ll be able to hear the falls (on a good flow day) before you can see them, which always hypes up the anticipation. 

You are pretty far away from the falls at this point, but it makes for a great place to take pictures with the falls in the background.  Or, if you are our dog Luna, a great place to jump in and swim.  

We stood in this spot for about a half hour relaxing in the sun before multiple groups of people began showing up.  So as usual, get there early!

Bluff Trail: to the Ice Box Cave

After we had our fill of the photos and water (Luna), we headed back the way we came and turned right onto the Bluff Trail.

This trail is much steeper as you are heading back up the hill you just descended.  It was a typical hot and humid Alabama day, so we were sweating pretty good at this point.  

Up we hiked until about .4 miles later we came across the Ice Box Cave.  

As soon as we entered this cave, we understood where the name came from and the cool air made for the perfect break from the heat!  

This is not a big cave, but it’s much darker than the brilliant sun outside.  Because of this we didn’t go very far past the mouth of the cave so explore at your own risk.  

We then continued on the Bluff Trail until we ran back into the River Trail and headed back to the parking lot.  

We decided to skip the Overlook Trail because we wanted to get some hiking done in DeSoto State Park since it’s just a few miles down the road.  Plus we were camping here, so we wanted to see what all the hype was about!

Hiking in DeSoto State Park

The DeSoto State Park trails map can be found here.  As you can see, there are plenty of hiking and multi-use trails to choose from!  They vary in length and difficulty, but we wanted to see waterfalls.  So we decided to hike to Lost Falls and Laurel Falls along the blue and orange trails

We parked at the Lost Falls Trailhead, which we quickly found using Google Maps, and got on the Orange Trail that begins right at the edge of that parking lot.  So let’s hike!

Orange Trail – 1.8 miles (one-way)

This trail is rated as moderate and while I would have called it more of an easy trail, it does have a few steep sections.  

Anyway, we started on the Orange Trail.  When the trail splits with the Blue Trail, we continued on the Orange Trail with the intention of hiking back the Blue Trail.  This would make a ~4 mile loop.  

As we hiked, we passed many azalea bushes that were well past flowering.  Perhaps if we had come in the spring we would have been surrounded with these bushes bursting with blooms (Say that 3 times fast!).  

But alas, it was June and only the summer heat greeted us.  

So we hiked on the winding Orange Trail which was very well marked despite having thick cover all around the trail.  

After a while we reached the Red Trail, which we took.  The Red Trail is short and acted as a connector for us to get back to the Blue Trail and then loop back to our car.  

Blue Trail – 1.7 miles (one-way)

As soon as we reached the Blue Trail we crossed the trickle of a creek that was running at the time.  

This was a bad sign for seeing waterfalls, but regardless we had to get back to the car.  So we pressed on. We should have been coming up on Laurel Falls shortly, but we were sad to find the falls completely dried up.  

This didn’t bode well for us being able to see Lost Falls, but that was the next waterfall we should have encountered.  I’m sure you see where this is going…

Lost Falls

Within a half mile or so we found where Lost Falls should have been.  But Lost Falls was so lost that only a trickle remained.  Obviously this was disappointing, but it was still good to get outside and hike.  As it always is!  

As we headed back to the car, which wasn’t much further at this point, we picked back up on the Orange Trail and hiked the remaining way to the car.

So after all the easy hiking that we had done that day, we headed back to the campsite to enjoy the remainder of the day in the great outdoors.    

Conclusion

Hiking on easy trails to reach DeSoto Falls Alabama is the perfect day trip or weekend getaway for every waterfall enthusiast!  DeSoto Falls does not disappoint and provides the perfect backdrop for that dreamy family photo.  

There truly is something here for every adventurer!  Whether it’s the waterfall, the easy trails, the kayaking in the area, or the various camping options, you can thrive being in the outdoors here.  

Happy Hiking!