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.

Fowler Creek Falls

Sunday morning, we headed to Nantahala National Forest for another difficult waterfall hike.  We parked on Bull Pen Road and hiked Ellicott Rock Trail (#431) into Ellicott Rock Wilderness.

The mountain laurel were really blooming along the trail.

We hiked through a couple rhodoendron tunnels, but they hadn't started flowering yet.

There were some galax blooming.

Partridgeberries were flowering but had not yet produced fruit.

We also saw some fairy wands.

In just over 2 miles, we came to the second left-hand switchback and got off the trail and started bushwhacking down to the creek.  It was very steep through a rhododendron hell.  About half-way down, it opened up a bit.  Still extremely steep but at least we could tell where we were going.  Finally, we came out at the creek below Fowler Creek Falls.

I climbed on the rocks to get a good view of the falls.

It's a real nice waterfall and we knew we wouldn't see anyone else, despite the popularity of the wilderness.

After a break down here, we climbed back up.  We continued on the trail down to Chattooga River and had lunch down here.

Then we made the hike back to Bull Pen Road.

We started making our way back, but stopped for one more waterfall in Pisgah National Forest.  We took Catheys Creek Road up a couple miles and parked along the road.  A short scramble path led down to Catheys Creek Falls.

It's a real nice waterfall and we hadn't made a visit in years.

Just downstream of the falls, the creek drops through a narrow chasm.  I followed a path downstream and scrambled to the base of this scenic drop.

Then we climbed back up to the car.

We headed into Brevard for dinner and got to-go from Hawg Wild and ate at Ecusta Brewing.  Then we headed back to the hotel for the evening.

Ellicott Rock Waterfalls

Saturday was my birthday.  We had breakfast at camp and then headed back into North Carolina and into the Ellicott Rock Wilderness in Nantahala National Forest.  We parked at the trailhead for Ellicott Rock Trail and headed into the wilderness.

Our target was Fowler Creek Falls.  We hiked about 2 miles on the trail and then bushwhacked down towards the creek.  The bushwhack was terrible and completely overgrown with a rhododendron hell.  Alex was having trouble and we needed to meet our friends so gave up and hiked back.

We then continued a short ways on Bull Pen Road and spotted Team Waterfall.  After parking, we hiked a short ways down the road and bushwhacked down to Upper Scotsman Falls.

It's a wicked bushwhack but thankfully short.  We came to the base of the waterfall and it was looking good in the high water, but the sun was shining right on it.  Then we scrambled back to the road and hiked down to the curve, where another steep path led to Scotsman Falls.  There was a hemlock varnish shelf on a tree on the hike down.

Soon we popped out along side the waterfall.

Clouds had finally come out and the waterfall was really beautiful.

I took off my boots and waded the creek to view the waterfall from different angles.

There were some cool potholes in the rocks here.

We had lunch down here and then headed up.

From here, we continued on Bull Pen Road.  In a couple miles, we spotted a waterfall from the road and had to stop.  The waterfall is on Upper Ammons Branch and was probably only flowing in the very high water.  But there was absolutely no trail.  The bushwhack was short but it didn't look like anyone had ever come back here.

The waterfall was about 15 feet and rather scenic.  We named it JBW Falls (Justin's Birthday Waterfall).

There was also a small waterfall flowing through a cave just downstream.

After some pictures, we returned to the car.

Our next stop was the trailhead for Cane Creek Falls.  Hiking down the old road, there was some flame azalea blooming.

In about a half-mile or so, we got off the trail and bushwhacked down to the waterfall.  Cane Creek is a really beautiful waterfall and it was really flowing.  The spray was intense.

After some pictures, we continued on the old road and little further and then made a sharp left on a path that headed back towards Cane Creek.  After crossing the creek the trail headed down past Lower Cane Creek Falls.  There was nowhere we could find for a decent picture.  This trail continued down to the Chattooga River and Badger and Scott found another waterfall on the creek further down.

It was starting to get late so we hiked back and said by to our friends before returning 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.