Rob Roy Falls is a powerfully rushing cascade type fall on the Talladega Creek within the Talladega National Forest. I had a hell of a time finding this one because I was working with just vague hints of where to go from various internet commentary on blogs and forums. I didn’t think I’d find it, and I thought I’d be wasting my time hunting it. And I was wrong about those things!
So how to find Rob Roy Falls? You’ll easily find Shepard Branch Shooting Range via Google or an official trail map of the Talladega National Forest. Step 1 is driving to that shooting range.
Step 2 is passing the shooting range and continuing down the forest road it is on. Comments I’d read declare that the falls can be reached by wandering the roads behind the shooting range. And that’s about all the information I had to work with. Turns out that isn’t enough, because the forest service road that the range is on continues and becomes several ATV trails. I parked at the first obvious pull out by the first obvious ATV trail (after a quick scouting down the road to find that it was a mess with options.) This was the closest part of the forest road to the range and since all I knew was to be behind the range and head vaguely East, that’s how I started. So off down the first ATV trail on foot I went, following the ruts in the road but luckily not there at a time when people were riding.
Step 3 – I followed the ATV path until it reached the water, some half mile later, and even though I’d gone East the whole time, there were no falls there, just plant matter and a hill with a cliff downstream and a still section of Talladega Creek present at my location and a little bit farther upstream a tiny shoal area. Google luckily showed a location for the falls and it was downstream from this point as I compared my location. So Step 3 is really “hike until you hit the creek. Then STOP. You’re too far upstream.”
Step 4 – I turned around and backtracked a few hundred feet on the ATV trail until I found the first creek bed that must go around the flip side of the cliff area. It was somewhat dry and wet in various places, and that’ll vary depending on the time of year no doubt. The key element was simply finding a creek bed from the trail, because creek beds have to go somewhere, and I figured it’d lead to a low point intersecting downstream somewhere and I could keep searching. So find a creek bed.
Step 5 – I followed the creek bed for about 15 minutes, picking my way through various weeds and whatnot, to arrive on the other side of the hill/cliff area. I was quickly rewarded with a lot of rushing water noises, some debris from camp sites long abandoned, and sure enough Rob Roy Falls. It was totally worth the confusion.
THAT ALL SAID – the fall looked like it had ATV trails going right to it. Probably from the second or third ATV trails connecting to the forest service road. I likely did this the hard and confused way since I was working with crappy information. But this fall is worth visiting, it does exist back behind the gun range, and if you try this yourself maybe take the second or third ATV path and save yourself some exploring.
