The Cascades

Sunday morning, we had breakfast at the hotel with Chris, Mel, Heather, and Danny and then checked out. There was a plan to go to Cascades Falls on Sunday, but Casey and LeAnna were busy with family stuff, so Sandy and I headed there by ourselves. We headed west on US-460 to Pembroke and turned on Route 623 into Cascades Day Use Area. After paying the day-use fee, we began our hike. Normally, I would hike the lower trail to the falls and the upper trail back to make a loop. But we weren’t sure if Casey and any others would be arriving later, so we hiked in the opposite direction to maybe run into them. We hiked the upper trail which follows an old roadbed upstream along Little Stony Creek high above. It’s up on a ridge above the creek, so we couldn’t see the creek while hiking, but there were some nice rock formations along the trail.

We also saw a cute little chipmunk on some big rocks along the trail here.

When we got to the split to go down to Cascades, we continued on the trail another half-mile to Upper Cascades. There’s a split in the trail and we went right to head to the Upper Cascades.

This was my first time to the area when the waterfalls weren’t frozen, so it was interesting to see them in their normal state. Due to the rain over the past day, the Upper Cascades was flowing quite well.

We climbed down the wet rocks to get to the base for a picture of the waterfall. The water level was high enough that it was hard to get far enough away to get a picture of the entire thing. What a difference a rainy night had made!

After some pictures at the base, we climbed back up to the top for a view of the waterfall tumbling down the ledges. Then, we started hiking back. Back at the split, we turned left to head down to Cascades. This 70-foot waterfall is truly spectacular – one of the best in Virginia, in my opinion.

And this was my first time seeing it when it was not frozen. It started to rain while we were here, but Sandy had an umbrella so I could get a couple pictures of the waterfall without getting the camera wet.

Then we started hiking back along the lower trail, following Little Stony Creek downstream back to the parking area. The creek is rocky and has many small cascades and drops downstream from Cascades and the rain had stopped shortly after we left the waterfall.

We saw a small waterfall on a small tributary of the creek. I imagine that this waterfall only exists after a good rain. We stopped at a couple more points along the creek on our hike back to view the pretty cascades.

Near the trailhead, we saw the old sawmill boiler that was used for power when the area was being logged.

Soon, we made it back to the parking area and started making our way home.

Waterfalls before the Wedding

For the last weekend in September, Sandy and I headed up to Blacksburg, Virginia for Casey and LeAnna’s wedding. We left very early Saturday morning so we could get a couple waterfalls on the way up. We got off I-77 near Bland and headed into the Eastern Divide Ranger District of Jefferson National Forest, stopping along Forest Road 201, Dismal Creek Road. From here, it was less than a tenth of a mile down Dismal Falls Trail (#1058) to Falls of Dismal. Although it’s nothing like the spectacular the Dismal Falls of North Carolina, Virginia’s Dismal Falls was very scenic.

The water level was a little low, but the leaves were starting to change, making for a very pretty scene. There were also some cool rock formations along the creek near the falls.

We climbed around on the rocks, getting pictures of the waterfall from different angles. The creek-wide waterfall tumbles down about 10 feet over a number of ledges at a bend in the creek.

After a few pictures, we headed back to the car and drove east towards Blacksburg. From US-460, we headed east on Route 603 to the North Fork of Roanoke River. We crossed the river on a very sketchy one-lane bridge and followed a gravel road into Falls Ridge Preserve. The Nature Conservancy has protected this beautiful area and allows public access. After getting our stuff together, we set off hiking across the open area and into the preserve. Just past the open area, we turned right at the fork to follow the Bradley Trail to the waterfall. A wooden overlook provides nice views of the scenic travertine waterfall.

Next to the waterfall are a bunch of small travertine caves with thin streams of water flowing down over them.

We got a couple of pictures and then headed up past the waterfall. There were a bunch of small cascades where the water flows over deposits from the creek.

We continued on and turned right at the next fork to follow the red-blazed Chamberlain Trail up to the top of the ridge.

The trail is moderately steep, but nothing too strenuous. At the top, the trail makes a short loop around the summit, but the dense vegetation at the top prevented any good views. It was overcast anyway, so we wouldn’t have been able to see anything. We did see a cute box turtle along the trail, though he stayed in his shell while we tried to get a photo.

We then followed the red trail back to the beginning and turned right to head back to the parking lot. Along the way, we stopped at some of the fantastic caves near the waterfall.

The caves aren’t very big, just a few were large enough that we could squeeze in for a picture.

One was particularly interesting – it really resembled a face with two small caves high up as the eyes, a protrusion that looked like a nose, and a wide cave at the bottom that resembled a mouth. As we hiked back through the open area, we saw a little red eft, the terrestrial juvenile stage of the eastern newt.

We finished up our hike and then headed back towards Christiansburg. We ate a light lunch at Ruby Tuesday and then checked into our room at Fairfield Inn. After a quick shower, we changed clothes and headed to the Blacksburg Country Club for the wedding. It was an outside wedding, but the weather was a little dreary. They erected a tent for the ceremony and then the reception was inside. We had a really nice time celebrating with Casey and LeAnna on their special day and it was a beautiful wedding.

Labor Day Waterfalls

Monday morning, we broke camp, said good-bye to our friends, and then headed east. We went north on SC-107 and cut over to SC-130, stopping at an overlook where we had lovely views of Lake Jocassee in the early morning light.  We then took NC-281 and US-64 into Brevard, NC and then followed US-276 back into South Carolina. Right across the state line, we parked at the trailhead for Raven Cliff Falls at Caesars Head State Park. Although it was still fairly early in the morning, the parking lot was already almost full. Raven Cliff Falls is a popular area, especially on a holiday. We ended up getting one of the last parking spaces. After paying the day-use fee, we started hiking the red-blazed Raven Cliff Falls Trail. In about 1.5 miles, we turned right on the blue-blazed Gum Gap Trail and followed this for another mile or so. Due to the greater crowds here, we fortunately didn’t have to deal with the spider webs along the trail - someone else had come through first and cleared them. We did walk through a nice area of rhododendron tunnels and saw more interesting mushrooms along the way, however.

At the next split, we turned left on the pink-blazed Naturaland Trust Trail and hiked down to the top of Raven Cliff Falls.

Unfortunately, the trail ends after the suspension bridge over the top of the waterfall. I was hoping to be able to get a little closer to the waterfall, but it wasn’t possible. There were some very nice cascades above the waterfall, however.

So we started hiking back.

Where Gum Gap and Raven Cliff Falls Trails intersect, we turned right to go to the overlook for the waterfall. The view here, however, isn’t very good.

The waterfall is quite far away and the view is mostly obscured by foliage. If it wasn’t on the WC100 list, it probably wouldn’t be worth the time to visit. But now Sandy had completed the challenge. We took a picture or two and then headed back. Back at the car, we drove back into North Carolina through Brevard and got on I-40 east. Since it wasn’t too late, we decided to hit one more waterfall on the way. We got off the interstate at exit 112 and headed into Valdese to McGalliard Falls Park. It was just a short walk to the top of the falls where an old grist mill and water wheel are located.

We had to go past the mill and take a steep path to the creek and then rock-hop back up to get to the base for some pictures.

For being in a city park, it’s a rather nice waterfall. We got some pictures of the waterfall and the old mill then headed back up.

It was a just a short drive into Morganton for dinner at Las Salsas, then made our way home.

More South Carolina Waterfalls

Sunday morning, we tried to get an early start as we had a bit of a drive. We headed east, passing Whitewater Falls and getting on SC-11 towards Greenville County. We turned onto US-276 and then headed into Asbury Hills Methodist Camp. Although privately property, the people here are nice enough to allow hikers to access their property when camp is not in session. Sandy had called in advance to get permission and the gate code. We parked near the basketball courts and started hiking up the red-blazed Asbury Trail. Initially, it passes a lake, though it was completely dry. The trail then heads upstream along Matthews Creek. It was clear that not a lot of other people had hiked this trail recently as the spider webs across the trail were awful. Clearing them with hiking poles was only marginally effective. We picked up some downed branches along the side of the trail that were more helpful although I imagine we looked strange waving long branches around as we hiked.

In a little over a mile, we came to the cable bridge across Matthews Creek and got on the pink-blazed Naturaland Trust Trail, turning right. We followed this trail until the next split at a cairn and went right on an unofficial trail that looked like an old road. Shortly thereafter, we made another right at a cairn and followed the path to the top of Moonshine Falls.

We stopped for a snack in the cave area behind the falls, where old rusty drums and distillation equipment remain.

It’s no surprise where Moonshine Falls got its name. I then climbed down to the base for some more pictures.

Although the upper part of the falls that flows past the cave was still going well, the lower cascades were almost nonexistent. After some pictures, we climbed back up to the path and continued down the path. There’s not much of a path, but a few pieces of flagging tape helped ensure we were going the right way.

We came to some downed trees and got off the path for a bit, then found it again and continued until we got to another mess of downed trees. We went to the right to get around the trees and headed down to creek level, but came out quite a bit downstream of our target. So we had to make a difficult bushwhack upstream to Confusion Falls.

Not sure where this waterfall got its name – confusion in trying to find the waterfall or confusion from too much moonshine? Either way, it’s a pretty nice waterfall even with the low water flow. A fallen log split the waterfall where the two streams converge. Then we climbed back up to the second mess of downed trees and followed the path back. Fortunately, on the hike back, most of the spider webs were still cleared from our hike in. From Asbury Hills, we headed west back into Pickens County and took US-178 north to Horse Pasture Road and parked at the Foothills Trail parking area here. We hiked a short ways on the gravel road, then turned left onto Eastatoe Gorge Trail, a spur of the Foothills Trail. The yellow-blazed trail follows an old road along a ridgeline high above Eastatoe Creek. At a few points, we could hear the creek far below.

In about 2 miles, the trail makes a descent into the gorge via a number of switchbacks. I was surprised to see several other groups of people here. I thought this place was pretty much unknown. But they were heading up, so when we reached the gorge, we had it all to ourselves. We turned right at the bottom and went to the small platform overlooking the Narrows.

It’s not a huge waterfall, but extremely scenic with the water tumbling down through an extremely narrow gorge. This is another of the few waterfalls that I thought looked better in low water. After a few pictures, we started making our way back. The climb back up was steep, but the switchbacks reduced the slope and we stopped to see some mushrooms growing along the way.

After getting up out of the gorge, the rest of the hike back was pretty easy. Once back at the car, we headed south on US-178 and took Cleo Chapman Highway west as we headed to the parking area for Twin Falls off Water Falls Road. Not surprisingly, there were a lot of cars here. The hike is an easy quarter-mile and Twin Falls is a great waterfall.

Reedy Cove Creek splits into two streams at the top of waterfall, hence the name. To the left, the water plunges off a 75-foot granite cliff while the right stream tumbles and cascades down and around boulders before the two streams meet up at the bottom.

It was dry and the water level was low so we were able to climb around on the rocks and get up close to the waterfall.

I had taken my boots off, but hadn't need to, as there were enough dry surfaces to walk all around with getting wet. The last time I had been here, the water level was way up and there was no way to safely get out on the rocks here.

On the hike back, we stopped to see the cute little water wheel along the trail. There was no water, however, so the wheel wasn't turning.

After some pictures, we headed back to the car and made our way to Pickens for dinner. We had pizza at Tonys and then headed back to camp.

Walhalla Area Waterfalls

Saturday morning, we woke up early, had breakfast and departed camp. We headed north for about a mile to Burrell’s Ford Road (FSR-708). In about 2.5 miles, we pulled over at a pull-off and started our first of many hikes for the day. We made the short hike to Spoonauger Falls.

Unfortunately, this one is pretty pitiful in the low water, despite the rains the night before. After a couple of quick pictures, we headed back to the car and drove just a short ways back up FSR-708. There’s a large parking area for Burrells Ford campground where we parked. We hiked down the gravel road to the campground and then took the trail towards King Creek Falls. Initially, the trail follows the Foothills Trail to a bridge over King Creek. Across the bridge, the trails split. We went left to follow the trail upstream to King Creek Falls.

It’s a beautiful 75-foot waterfall and still looked good even in the low water. We crossed the logs at the base and got some pictures from the sandy beach.

There were a lot of nice wildflowers blooming around the base of the waterfall as well as a cairn in the shallow water.

We got some pictures here and then started heading back. Back at the car, we got on SC-107 south and past the campground, turned left on Winding Stairs Road, a steep and winding gravel road. At the end, we turned right on Jumping Branch Road and then right on FSR-715A. This turn can be tricky to find as it’s not on most maps or GPS. In about three-quarters of a mile, we pulled into a parking area just before the bridge over Tamassee Creek and got ready for our next hike. Lee Falls is a really beautiful waterfall, but a bit tough to find as there’s no trail. Once we were ready, we started hiking through the field past the gate. The last time I was here, it was raining, but today we had rather nice weather. So it was very pleasant hiking through the fields where wildflowers were in full bloom and a large number of butterflies were fluttering about.

We also saw a number of honey bees collecting nectar from the flowers.

We also saw some species of Physalis, which produces the most interesting "lanterns" to protect their fruit as it develops.

Across the first field, we had to rock hop across the creek and came to the second field. This one has two sections and after the second section, we crossed another creek and came to the third field. The last time I was here, the water level was way up and we had to wade across, but it was low enough today that we could rock hop. After this crossing, the path headed into the woods and continued following Tamassee Creek upstream towards the waterfall. We saw a cute little orange toad right along the path through the woods.

It’s not too bad until about a mile from the trailhead. We had to cross a small tributary and then head upstream. There’s not much of a trail at this point and it’s quite steep and rocky; at one point we were in a narrow strip of rocks and dirt in the middle of the creek. There were a couple parts with a rather treacherous scramble up wet rocks, but soon we made it to the base of Lee Falls.

Again, the water level was low, but this is still a very nice waterfall. It really reminds of something you might see in a tropical rainforest.

We got some pictures here and had a snack then made our way back. From here, we made a short drive to Oconee Station Road and parked at the trailhead for Station Cove Falls. The small parking area was almost full, but we were able to get the last parking space. This is an easy waterfall to get and so quite popular. We hiked along the Palmetto Trail towards Oconee State Park, seeing some pretty coral fungi growing near a footbridge.

In about a half-mile, we reached the spur trail to Station Cove Falls. Some brilliantly orange Jack-o-Lantern mushrooms were growing around a tree near the turn.

It was a short way on the spur trail to the waterfall. This waterfall looked a little pitiful in the low water and there were a lot of people here, so we didn’t spend too long.

Surprisingly, we actually had cell signal here. Back at the car, we continued south to get on SC-28 and headed to Yellow Branch Picnic Area. After parking, we got on Yellow Branch Falls Trail. This is a really pleasant trail, about 1.5 miles to the waterfall. Yellow Branch Falls was one of my favorite waterfalls in South Carolina.

In high water levels, it is absolutely beautiful – it feels like a magical place. But even today, in lower water levels, it was still quite pretty and the setting still had a magical feel.

Sandy and I climbed around on the rocks and got pictures of the waterfall from different points. Unfortunately, we didn’t see the cute little salamanders all around the waterfall that I had seen previously.

As more people started to arrive, we made our way back.

Our last waterfall of the day was just across the street. We pulled into Stumphouse Tunnel and paid at the self-serve kiosk, then parked at Issaqueena Falls. There were a lot of people here. We didn’t bother stopping at the overlook, because the view of the falls is poor. Instead, we scrambled down to the base for a better view. It was so crowded here that we actually had to stand in line to scramble down to the base. Like a few others this weekend, the waterfall was pretty pitiful at such low water levels. I climbed over to the left side where there was the most water flow for a picture of the falls.

Then we headed back up and departed. For dinner, we headed into Walhalla and had Mexican at Puerto Nuevo and then started heading back towards camp. Driving north on SC-107, we passed Oconee State Park and saw a sign for waterfalls after that. We had over an hour until sunset, so figured we’d try to get one more in. We turned on left on Village Creek Road and then right on Nicholson Ford Road (FSR-775) and drove about 2 miles to a parking area on the right. We parked here and took the short connector trail to the Foothills Trail then started hiking towards Chattooga River. In about a half-mile or so, we came to another parking area at the end of FSR-775 – apparently we should have driven a little further and parked here. We hiked for another half-mile or so and turned at the sign for Licklog Falls. It was just a small 10-foot cascade that looked like it needed some more water. I did some research later on and realized this was in fact Pigpen Falls, not Licklog Falls.

Licklog Falls was just another quarter-mile down the trail. But we were running very short on daylight, so we turned back. At the parking area, we hiked the forest road back to our car as this was quicker than taking the Foothills Trail. We then headed back to camp, took showers, and enjoyed a campfire with our friends who had been in Southern Nantahala Wilderness for the day.