Shangri-La Falls in the Bankhead National Forest is a fairly tall fall, hidden within a canyon-esq creek branch. At the base there is a gorgeous pool of water you can play in and a sense of natural beauty & seclusion even for the greater forest. The name Shangri-La helps add to the mystic of the place, along with very few indications that it exists within the Bankhead, based on the lack of trail markers or signage. Most people find out about the fall online and then set off to hunt it down in person. When I first started looking for information it seemed like the common thing is for people to purposely withhold information about the location to further the mystery, leaving this with a scavenger hunt sort of vibe within the Bankhead, wherein you can find a waterfall just about anytime you go down a trail. But this one is more difficult. If you don’t like spoilers and want to hunt it fairly, stop reading now!
I had zero WiFi in the Bankhead, so it was a matter of some screen shots grabbed in advance, a few stray comments read on forums, and perhaps dumb luck that I found it. To that end I was staying at Brushy Lake Campground, and had read a forum comment that the fall was somewhere on Collier Creek. There were no signs to be found, so I ended up driving around roads in the vicinity looking for signs of trailheads. Driving west from Brushy Lake Campground I found a forest service road to take a left turn on, adjacent to Collier Creek on the maps, and a little ways down it an unmarked trailhead on the right with space for just a few cars. I never saw another human there, but got out of the car, grabbed my pack, and away I went.
The trailhead I was at while not marked seemed to start along a mostly dry creek bed. If you’re a seasoned waterfall hunter you learn that where water flows or could flow, you very likely need to follow. So I did, and this was in early 2022, through a little bit of a field and an area with some trees that looked like there had been a fire to clear some brush out in recent times. The creek bed ended upon a cliff side where the limited water flow dropped far away as a fall in itself, into what I guessed (correctly) must be Collier Creek. Note that these places look different from season to season and condition to condition, but at least a creek bed and a cliff will remain regardless over time.
From there I found a social trail heading upstream, leading sharply and precariously down to the water from the steep sloping top I arrived on. Not far down this, behold, there was Shangri-La! I think I got lucky because I’ve read other reports in the last few months that it has not been flowing or very low flow, but I had a high flow day and everything was gorgeous. This whole experience was maybe a mile hike round trip at best for what it is worth.
