Jones Gap Waterfalls

After lunch, we continued on into South Carolina to Jones Gap State Park. It was a busy day and the parking lots were full. Luckily, we had a reserved campsite, so we were able to head to the camper parking lot. After checking in, we set up our tent at Site 1 along the Hospital Rock Trail. Once we were set up, we went for an evening hike up to Rainbow Falls. I had been to this waterfall before, but Sandy had not, and since it was one of my favorites in South Carolina, I wanted her to see it. The first half-mile or so along Jones Gap Trail is pretty easy as it meanders along the Middle Saluda River. When Rainbow Falls trails splits off, however, it gets a bit more strenuous.

At first, its not too bad as the trail gradually heads up following Cox Camp Creek upstream, but then departs from the creek and gets quite steep. After a lot of stairs and switchbacks, the trail levels off before reaching Rainbow Falls, a spectacular 100-foot plunge over a cliff face.

The last time I was here, the water levels were higher and I couldn’t get near the falls due to the wind and spray. This time, it was a little calmer and I was able to climb up on the rocks a bit to get some more pictures. We spent a few minutes here enjoying the waterfall, before heading back down.

We stopped by the car to grab dinner and then headed back to the campsite, built a fire, and ate dinner. It was a very early start to our day, so it wasn’t long after sunset that we fell fast asleep.  Sunday morning, we woke up at daybreak and quickly broke camp. There was a threat of rain; I don’t mind hiking in the rain, but breaking camp in the rain is no fun. We got the car all packed up and then headed back out on the Jones Gap Trail.

This time, we headed about a mile down the trail to see Jones Gap Falls. This is a nice 50-foot waterfall, although the water flow is not particularly good.

We visited during a wet March; I would imagine that in the drier times, there’s not much of a waterfall to see. When we were done here, we hiked back to the parking area and and left. Our next waterfall was also in Jones Gap State Park, but we had to drive a short ways to get to the trailhead. We left the park and turned left on Duckworth Road and then right on Falls Creek Road and parked at the kiosk at the trailhead. By this time, it started drizzling a bit, but not heavy rain. We donned our rain gear and started out, hiking up the steep trail following an old road. After climbing up for a while, the trail leveled off a bit and we crossed Little Falls Creek. But soon, the trail got steep again as we approached the waterfall. When we got to the falls, we were both really impressed with this spectacular waterfall. It’s much less well-known and popular than Rainbow Falls, but just as beautiful. Unfortunately, the rain had picked up a bit and that interfered a bit with taking pictures and video, but I did the best I could.

First I climbed down to the lower section; there were rocks across the pool at the base that allowed connecting to the Hospital Rock Trail on the other side, but it was too slippery in the rain to attempt a crossing. Then I headed up to see the upper section.

Either section by itself would have been an impressive waterfall, but together they made a truly spectacular sight. We might have spent a bit more time here, but given the rain, we decided to head back down. Back at the car, we drove back to the main road and then turned right on US-276/SC-11, the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway, and headed west towards Georgia. But before leaving the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area, we stopped quickly at Wildcat Wayside for one more waterfall - Wildcat Branch Falls. This one is right on the side of the road and made for an easy stop.

We got a couple pictures of the waterfall and hiked back a short ways on the trail to see an old chimney.

Then we continued along the scenic highway towards Georgia.

Middle Bridge Waterfalls

Monday morning, we again woke up right at sunrise, broke camp and started out on our first hike of the day. Conveniently, Rainbow Falls is accessed through Jones Gap State Park, so we didn’t have to drive anywhere. And getting an early start, we would beat the crowds. It is a holiday, after all, so we expected that the parks would be crowded. From the parking lot, we hiked along the Jones Gap Trail as it ran along the Middle Saluda River for a short ways. At one point, Justine stopped ahead of me and was looking backwards. She signaled for me to turn around and I saw rays of early morning light bursting through the dense foliage in a very pronounced beam.

We continued a short ways further along this trail, before taking a bridge across the river and got on the red-blazed Rainbow Falls Trail.

The trail is relatively flat at first crossing Cox Camp Creek a couple of times heading upstream, and then really getting steep as it moves away from the creek. After a seemingly endless number of stairs, the trail leveled off a bit as it went past some huge rock cliffs with water flowing down the sides.

I don't think that these are any sort of permanent waterfall, but with the substantial amount of rain we had this weekend, they were pretty cool. Past these cliffs, the trail was fairly level as it approached the base of the falls. There were some nice cascades just before reaching the falls and a couple of tricky stream crossings, but soon we made it.

Having seen a few pictures of this waterfall, I was not expecting to be too impressed. Boy, was I wrong. Perhaps it was the very wet summer and recent rains or maybe pictures just don’t do it justice.

Either way, this was an amazing waterfall, my favorite of the weekend. The waterfall plunges over a cliff with a freefall of near 100 feet. And the high volume of water flow was creating lots of spray and nearly hurricane-force winds. The spray and strong winds made taking pictures difficult, but nonetheless, this is definitely one of the most impressive waterfalls I’ve ever seen.

When I walked up the rocks to get a little closer (without the camera, of course), I ended up getting completely drenched, even more than I had been from all the rain over the weekend. At one point, I couldn’t go any further, because the wind was so strong, I was afraid I’d get blown over on the wet rocks. When we were done, we started making the hike back down. Although we had the falls to ourselves, we saw quite a few people hiking up the trail on our way back down.

A nice thing about camping at the park is you can get an early start and beat the crowds. Needless to say, these people were huffing and puffing making the climb up, but we assured them that it was worth the effort. Back at the car, we left the park and got back on SC-11, stopping at Wildcat Wayside on our way back to Caesars Head. Wildcat Branch Falls is a nice cascading waterfall right on the side of SC-11 between US-276 and Jones Gap.

Wildcat Wayside, where the falls are located, is part of the Middle Bridge Wilderness, along with Jones Gap and Caesars Head. There is a nice-sized parking area here along the highway and a vendor had set up a truck selling boiled peanuts, ice cream, and other snacks.

We stopped for just a couple minutes to take some pictures then headed towards Caesars Head State Park on US-276. We parked at the parking area for Raven Cliff Falls and headed out on the trail for our last waterfall of the weekend. The trail is about 2.2 miles one way and moderate. There is a kiosk at the trailhead with a map as well as maps at the two intersections with other trails, so it would be hard to get lost. Along the way, we saw a cute little eastern newt on a tree.

He seemed to get real still when we got close to take pictures, but his bright orange color makes for lousy camouflage. A the end of the trail, we reached the overlook for Raven Cliff Falls. Raven Cliff Falls is a huge 400-foot waterfall and the viewing deck is very nice.

Unfortunately, it’s quite far away, so it’s hard to get an idea of the magnitude of the falls. There used to be another viewing deck that was closer, but I think it was destroyed by storm. It’s also possible to hike down to the falls, but there’s nowhere to really get a good view. And we were tired from all the hiking this weekend, so we sat and had a snack for lunch at the overlook before heading back. Victory! 17 named waterfalls in four days.