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.