Chattooga River Waterfalls

Monday morning, we had breakfast at Village Inn again and then headed to the northwest corner of the state into Sumter National Forest and parked at the trailhead for Burrells Ford Campground.  We got on Foothills Trail for a 1/2 mile to King Creek Trail and followed this up the creek, ending at the beautiful King Creek Falls.

It's a beautiful 70-foot waterfall and we actually had nice lighting today.

Harper was very interested in the big waterfall.  After some pictures, we started heading back and stayed on Foothills Trail out to Chattooga Trail and turned right to hike along the river.  Near the campground, we found a nice spot for a break.

After a snack break, we continued following the trail along the river upstream.  After crossing Burrells Ford Road, we entered Ellicott Rock Wilderness.  Across Spoonauger Creek, we took the spur trail up towards the falls.  There's a nice cascade on the creek in the first switchback.

After a couple more switchbacks, the trail ends at the base of Spoonauger Falls.

In high water and good lighting, the waterfall was very pretty.  I scrambled around on the rocks for pictures from different angles.

Back down the spur trail, we continued on Chattooga Trail about another mile with several nice views of the river.

Then we hiked back to the car.

From here, we started making our way back to Pickens with a quick stop at the overlook on Oscar Wigington Highway.

Back in Pickens, we went to Burning Brick Tavern for a late lunch and then returned to our cabin and all went for a short hike on Alder Creek Trail to see the waterfall again.