Sidepocket and Paw Paw Falls

Last weekend, Sandy and I headed to the mountains for some waterfalls.  It was a good weekend to get away as Hurricane Matthew was making a lot of rain around Raleigh.  Out in the mountains, though, the weather was pretty nice – mostly blue skies with some wind gusts.  We left early and headed out to Gorges State Park, arriving around 10.  We parked at the Grassy Ridge Trailhead and hiked down Rainbow Falls and Raymond Fisher Trails.  In a quarter-mile, we turned left and continued on the blue-blazed Raymond Fisher Trail to Chestnut Mountain Road.  Turning right, we followed the 4WD road just a short ways to a big pile of gravel.  A small path led from behind the pile and headed towards Horsepasture River and eventually became more of an overgrown road.  This road eventually leads to the top of Windy Falls.  In about a quarter-mile, a second old road came in from the left and just past where the two roads converged, we got off the trail and bushwhacked towards the river.  There was enough of a trail and flagging that it was pretty easy to follow.  We went between two small knolls than up a ridge and then steeply down to the river.  Near river level, we found a scramble path that led upstream to the base of Sidepocket Falls.

We found some rocks at the base to sit and eat lunch and get some pictures of the lower section of the falls.  I thought the lower section was more scenic than the upper section.  After we ate lunch, we scrambled up the rocks to see the upper section.  We got about half way up and then had to climb across some down trees to get up for a view of the upper portion of the waterfall.

After a couple pictures, we returned the way we came.  Climbing up from Horsepasture, we were able to switchback a bit more to avoid some of the steepest sections.  Back at Chestnut Mountain Road, we turned right on Raymond Fisher Trail and followed it down to the pond and campground.  At the campground, we followed a service road past the campsite to a junction and made a sharp right.  Hiking down another old road, we made a left at the next two intersections and then forded Bearwallow Creek.  Once across the creek, we bushwhacked downstream following the creek closely.  Our plan was to visit the four waterfalls that make up Paw Paw Falls, all four of which now have their own names.  There were some cascades and small drops and then we came to Indian Camp Falls, the first of the four, about a quarter-mile from the ford.

We could see the waterfall from an angle, but for a good view, I had to wade the creek and climb onto the rocks directly across from the waterfall.

It was a cool setting for the falls with the creek making a 90-degree turn at the base of the waterfall.  Just below this waterfall was Split Rock Falls, where the water tumbles down a split in the rock face.

From here, the bushwhack got very difficult.  Cliff faces made us have to go high above the creek to proceed downstream.  Eventually, we were able to get back down towards the creek and came out at Chute Falls.  This was my favorite of the waterfall on this short run of Bearwallow Creek.

Unfortunately, a big tree had recently fallen down right in front of it and the foliage prevented getting any good pictures.  We crossed the creek here and bushwhacked down to Paw Paw Falls.  I dropped my phone somewhere along the way and had to run up and get it.  It was starting to get late so I didn’t bother to go back for a picture.  We then bushwhacked up the ridge and eventually came out on the road before the ford.  We followed the same route back and took Chestnut Mountain Road back to the parking area.  As we got back to the parking area, we talked to a ranger on an ATV, who must have known we were bushwhacking by how tired and dirty we were.  He asked if we had gone to Windy Falls, so I told him about our adventures for the day.  Then he took off and we headed to our hotel in South Carolina for the evening.  Passing by Lake Keowee on the way, we saw a beautiful sunset.