Little Mulberry Park - Plus, Karina Miller Waterfall
Located in the northern half of Gwinnett County is a 890 acre park that sports in my opinion some of the best terrain for hiking, exploring nature and making nice photographs.
(Click to read park update)
Little Mulberry Park features:
- 890 acres
- Old growth woodlands
- Two fish ponds
- Play area
- Second highest point in Gwinnett county
- A central nature preserve
- One 15 foot table top waterfall
- One approx. 30-40 foot stair-step waterfall
- Large open fields
- Unique archeological stone formations
- Deep woodland hiking trails
One of the many things that makes Little Mulberry feel so unique is the sensation of rustic mountain get-away that the park designers put together. When you’re at this park its easy to forget that you are in fact within one of the largest and most populated counties east of the Mississippi.
The many deep woodland trails affords the hiker or photographer the ability to seclude themselves and let their creative abilities get to work without the normal outside distractions of cars, city noise, pedestrian traffic and daily living. Each time I’ve visited the park its allowed me to mentally relax and enjoy the nature around me.
Finding a waterfall
When I first started visiting my primary goals where to locate the two waterfalls that I’d heard rumor where located somewhere deep within the park. I’d seen glimpses of photographs and wanted to make the trek in myself to capture my own to add to my collection. Since then these falls have attracted a lot more waterfall shooters.
The first attempt I made was a sort of silly. I decided that perhaps these falls weren’t part of the normal trail system so, I decided to go cross-country and forgo the more easily navigable pathways. That was both a mistake and, a blessing. The mistake part was I spent more than an hour wandering around and not finding anything. The blessing was that it allowed me to capture one of my favorite photographs, the Mulberry Hawk.
The Mulberry Hawk was shot while getting back on the main trail by a fallen tree. This bird I suspect had a nest nearby which it refused to leave, allowing me time to put on a longer lens and get in a good enough stance to get a somewhat steady image. The brilliant background footage just made the image even that much better.
After making this image I ended up asking some hikers which direction to head for the waterfall I was hunting that day, the thirty footer. I’d spent way too much time wandering the forest and my face had started going numb from the 40 degree weather.
I traveled back down one of the hiking paths passing a small brook with large boulders another small stream with tumbling waters and large deadfall, finally up a steep incline to the waterfall, (there is actually a warning sign letting you know that there is a steep incline). The silly thing is that this waterfall was along one of the main paved pathways – not some outlying little known square of land.
Boy, did I feel like an idiot. This waterfall is located along “Carriage Trail” which runs up the center of the park cutting through the nature preserve. If the water is flowing strongly you should be able to hear it as you descend the trail if you’re coming from the Fence Road entrance to the park.
There is a rough hewn fence and a few rustic benches located at the head of the falls which provide both a nice place to rest and, a tranquil location to sit and enjoy your surroundings. The fence itself is there to protect visitors from falling off the trail and plummeting down the hillside into the waterfall. Its actually a pretty steep drop.
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Waterfall characteristics and photographing
Flow
I’ve only made one really successful trip to this waterfall. That’s the honest truth. The main reason can be summed up in two words, “water table.” Because the smaller falls located so far from the mountains lack the deeper water tables and runoff of their northern brethren they become much more susceptible to drought, rainfall and irrigation.
Due to this the best times to visit the waterfall is going to be in the winter and spring, normally in the wetter seasonal rainfall between November and April. If you are looking for something with fall foliage your best bet will be to try and capture some of the late fall color in early or mid November. For spring, try early April.
I can say from experience that anything in the hotter months will most likely disappoint unless we’ve had an exceptionally rainy summer.
Approach
To reach this waterfall its most practical to go to the base of the hill past the fence and travel upstream to the base. Otherwise you’re going to have a tough time gaining access plus, risk falling down the steep ravine.
I’d also suggest wearing rubber boots, you’re most likely going to need to actually get in the stream to get in some of the positions available for this shoot.
Gear
This waterfall is located in a crease in the hillside at the base of a ravine so, you do have a little leeway with the light. To insure you have the right gear that allows you the most shooting time I’d carry the following items.
What I normally carry:
- Sturdy tripod
- Neutral Density filter
- Rubber boots and waterproof emergency cover for the camera
- Flashlight
- Water
- Cell phone
- Camera release (or use timer)
- Backpack
Technique
Your main concern in going to be too much light which could spoil a really good long-exposure. To prevent this equip you lens with a Neutral Density filter. This type of filter will add more stops allowing you to keep the shutter open much longer and, that allows for more silky water flow – the hallmark of any nice waterfall photo.
Do keep in mind that you want to control direct sunlight on the water as much as possible. Once you start getting direct light striking the water it will create too much contrast and can blow out all of your detail. You might want to also invest in a Circular Polarizing filter. This filter can be adjusted to reduced reflection on the water surface.
Due to this I’d suggest being in place in the morning hours by 6:30 – 7:00 AM at the latest. If you’re an evening shooter don’t arrive before 4:00 PM. These times are based for more colder months.
Update
On recent visits I’ve noticed a continual loss of water table at Little Mulberry. I’ve spoken with the park manager about this and have been reassured that nothing strange is causing this dry condition.
Pure speculation follows
A few of the alarming things have been really bothering me are bone dry creek beds, waterfall flow that has reduced to drips and marshy areas that are like a desert. In fact many of the back-wood trails had stone walkways put in to elevate the hiker above these marshy areas. They’ve been unnecessary for a long time. One of the more unique streams, the one that had the large boulders hasn’t seen water in any of my trips for probably a year.
Personally, I’m not sure this is really or completely the case. For these areas to go completely without water for this long sounds more like water diversion to me. We have had drought like conditions off and on in the south for several months now but, the sandy conditions of some of these stream beds makes them appear as if there has been no flow in them for ages.
Its possible that a nearby land owner or neighborhood is diverting water flow or, complaints from some park goers have given the county reasons to drain much of the moisture from these areas.
If that’s so, it’s a sad thing since these features are what made this park so unique.
I’d like to hear from you about water conditions in Little Mulberry Park, have you noticed a lack of water? Contact me with your own form of speculation.
