Jones Gap Waterfalls

After lunch, we continued on into South Carolina to Jones Gap State Park. It was a busy day and the parking lots were full. Luckily, we had a reserved campsite, so we were able to head to the camper parking lot. After checking in, we set up our tent at Site 1 along the Hospital Rock Trail. Once we were set up, we went for an evening hike up to Rainbow Falls. I had been to this waterfall before, but Sandy had not, and since it was one of my favorites in South Carolina, I wanted her to see it. The first half-mile or so along Jones Gap Trail is pretty easy as it meanders along the Middle Saluda River. When Rainbow Falls trails splits off, however, it gets a bit more strenuous.

At first, its not too bad as the trail gradually heads up following Cox Camp Creek upstream, but then departs from the creek and gets quite steep. After a lot of stairs and switchbacks, the trail levels off before reaching Rainbow Falls, a spectacular 100-foot plunge over a cliff face.

The last time I was here, the water levels were higher and I couldn’t get near the falls due to the wind and spray. This time, it was a little calmer and I was able to climb up on the rocks a bit to get some more pictures. We spent a few minutes here enjoying the waterfall, before heading back down.

We stopped by the car to grab dinner and then headed back to the campsite, built a fire, and ate dinner. It was a very early start to our day, so it wasn’t long after sunset that we fell fast asleep.  Sunday morning, we woke up at daybreak and quickly broke camp. There was a threat of rain; I don’t mind hiking in the rain, but breaking camp in the rain is no fun. We got the car all packed up and then headed back out on the Jones Gap Trail.

This time, we headed about a mile down the trail to see Jones Gap Falls. This is a nice 50-foot waterfall, although the water flow is not particularly good.

We visited during a wet March; I would imagine that in the drier times, there’s not much of a waterfall to see. When we were done here, we hiked back to the parking area and and left. Our next waterfall was also in Jones Gap State Park, but we had to drive a short ways to get to the trailhead. We left the park and turned left on Duckworth Road and then right on Falls Creek Road and parked at the kiosk at the trailhead. By this time, it started drizzling a bit, but not heavy rain. We donned our rain gear and started out, hiking up the steep trail following an old road. After climbing up for a while, the trail leveled off a bit and we crossed Little Falls Creek. But soon, the trail got steep again as we approached the waterfall. When we got to the falls, we were both really impressed with this spectacular waterfall. It’s much less well-known and popular than Rainbow Falls, but just as beautiful. Unfortunately, the rain had picked up a bit and that interfered a bit with taking pictures and video, but I did the best I could.

First I climbed down to the lower section; there were rocks across the pool at the base that allowed connecting to the Hospital Rock Trail on the other side, but it was too slippery in the rain to attempt a crossing. Then I headed up to see the upper section.

Either section by itself would have been an impressive waterfall, but together they made a truly spectacular sight. We might have spent a bit more time here, but given the rain, we decided to head back down. Back at the car, we drove back to the main road and then turned right on US-276/SC-11, the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway, and headed west towards Georgia. But before leaving the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area, we stopped quickly at Wildcat Wayside for one more waterfall - Wildcat Branch Falls. This one is right on the side of the road and made for an easy stop.

We got a couple pictures of the waterfall and hiked back a short ways on the trail to see an old chimney.

Then we continued along the scenic highway towards Georgia.