My wife and I were passing through Toccoa Falls, Georgia on Saturday, March 22, heading back home from Devil’s Fork State Park in South Carolina, and decided to stop in to see the namesake waterfalls.  My sister had attended Toccoa Falls College in the 1960’s, and a friend of my daughter’s family from Papua New Guinea is attending there now, so we knew the waterfalls was on the campus of the college.  We stopped at the guard’s gate for directions – straight down the road until we come to the gift shop in the Gate Cottage.  Access to the falls is through the gift shop, paying a small fee – $2 for most adults, $1 each for those of us over the age of 60.  A short walk of about 100 yards up a nice trail along Toccoa Creek brings you to a view of the 186′ waterfalls.

Toccoa Falls on the campus of Toccoa Falls College in Georgia

In the falls basin there were a few Trout Lilies blooming in the soil on the rocks in front of the falls pool.

Trout Lily – Erythronium americanum

However, there were many blooming on the steep slopes above the basin floor.

Trout Lily – Erythronium americanum

While many were still blooming, there were also many Trout Lilies “gone to seed.”

Trout Lily seed capsule – Erythronium americanum

There were also a few Rue Anemone blooming, scattered among the Trout Lilies.

Rue Anemone – Thalictrum thalictroides

My wife had wandered up a path continuing to photograph the Trout Lilies, and while I was waiting for her I decided to photograph one more Trout Lily that was at my feet.  I half-noticed that the color was a little different, but from the top thought it was just the reddish coloring of the back of the tepals.  I wasn’t really paying attention as i just looked through the viewfinder at the edges to make sure the plant fit into the frame and was level, and went onto auto-brain to focus.  Only when I got home and looked at it on my computer did I realize that this was my first-ever White Trout Lily – Erythronium albidum!  And I only took the single photograph below…

White Trout Lily – Erythronium albidum

Quite a nice bonus for this quick side-trip to Toccoa Falls!