Stumphouse Tunnel

Wednesday, we had breakfast at Village Inn and then headed towards Walhalla stopping at Oconee Station State Historic Site.  We first hiked to Station Cove Falls.

It wasn't frozen but lots of icicles on the falls.

After a few minutes, we hiked back and continued on the trail back to the historic site, passing around the small pond.

Finishing up the loop, we walked over to the historic buildings.

Oconee Station and William Richards house date from the late 18th and early 19th century.

The doors were unlocked so we walked around inside a bit.

After a quick tour, we took off.

From here, we next stopped at Stumphouse Tunnel Park.  After paying admission, we parked for the falls.  It was a short hike to the overlook for Issaqueena Falls.

In winter, the view from the overlook is pretty nice.

I climbed down to the base for a closer view.  There were lots of icicles on the waterfall in the cold weather.

Although the lighting was poor, the bright sunlight did make a nice rainbow in the spray of the falls. 

We headed back and then went to Stumphouse Tunnel.

The tunnel was constructed in the mid 19th century for a railroad line through the area.  Work ceased during the Civil War and was never resumed, leaving the tunnel incomplete.

We walked back as far as we could go.

There were a lot of icicles around the entrance, but the tunnel itself was mild.

From here, we headed into Walhalla for lunch at Trailhead Tavern.  Back towards Pickens, we made a stop at Nine Times Preserve.

This little Nature Conservancy property was very close to our cabin.  We hiked the Rocky Bald Loop Trail and headed up the mountain.  In about a half-mile, we came to Nine Times Falls.

It's an ephemeral waterfall on a very small tributary so there wasn't much water flowing.  It would need a very heavy rain to really look good.

After a couple pictures, we continued on the loop trail.  There wasn't much more uphill and soon we headed back down.

We headed back to the cabin and took Harper to the library after the sun went down.

DuPont Forest Waterfalls

Tuesday, we had breakfast at Village Inn again and then headed into North Carolina to DuPont State Forest.  We drove down the gravel Cascade Lake Road and pulled over next to Merry Falls.

It's a really scenic roadside waterfall that I understand is part of a newly-acquired tract of land in the forest.

After some pictures from near the road, I scrambled down to creek level for some pictures

Then we headed back to Staton Road and parked at the visitor center.  From here, we got on High Falls Loop Trail and went to the overlook for High Falls.

With high water, even lighting and the leaves down, it was a really nice view.  Just past the overlook, a spur trail led to the base.  There was a lot of spray so we didn't stay long.

Back on the main trail, we continued to Triple Falls Trail.  The stairs to the middle were closed but we had a nice view of Triple Falls from the trailside overlook.

The trail continued down Little River.

At the end, we came to Hooker Falls Access further down Staton Road.  The old Hooker Falls that followed the river is now closed so got on the new trail that went up and around, passing by the Moore-Hooker Cemetery.

After the cemetery, the trail headed down, ending near the base of Hooker Falls.  I walked up close to the base for some pictures.

Then we made our way back, taking the other side of the High Falls Loop to return to the parking area.

From here, we headed into Brevard for lunch at Hawg Wild.  Since we were close by, we made a quick stop at Looking Glass Falls.

Then we headed back into South Carolina on US-178 and took Cleo Chapman Highway to the Twin Falls Trailhead.  The short trail led into Jocassee Gorges Wildlife Management Area and ended at an overlook of Twin Falls.

In high water, it was really flowing and there was a third stream of water coming down.  Unfortunately, a lot of downfall was all over the base.

Then we made our way back to the cabin and retired for the evening.

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.

Falls Park on the Reedy

Sunday morning, we went in to Pickens for breakfast at Village Inn.  The waitresses were really nice and delicious breakfast.  We ended up eating here every morning of our stay.  Then we continued east to Greenville and parked at Falls Park on the Reedy.  We followed the closed road down to the river and first went downstream a short ways to Lower Reedy River Falls.

It's a small 15-foot drop downstream of the main waterfall.

The lighting was unfortunately rather poor, with not a cloud in the sky.  Then we turned around and went upstream to see Reedy River Falls.

The 28-foot waterfall was quite impressive right in the middle of downtown Greenville.

The Liberty Bridge is a unique footbridge over the waterfall with nice views, though it did cast a shadow on the falls.

After crossing the bridge, we headed back to see Arboretum Falls.

It's a small tributary waterfall in a pretty little garden in the park.

After a couple pictures, we continued on Swamp Rabbit Trail following the river downstream.  We went a short ways past the zoo and then turned around since we only had 2 hours of parking.

From here, we went north on US-276 and stopped for lunch at Monterrey Mexican Restaurant.  After 276 merged with SC-11, we continued to Wildcat Wayside and managed to find parking despite being very crowded.  The lighting was poor so we got a picture or two of Wildcat Branch Falls and then continued up the trail.

After crossing the creek, we passed the old chimney, all that remains of Greenville Wayside Park built by the National Park Service.

The creek next to the chimney was scenic.

Just past here, the trail split and we went left, crossing a tributary and then gradually heading up to the base of Upper Wildcat Branch Falls.

It's a really high waterfall with normally low water flow, but was looking nice today.

Continuing on the loop, we next passed Wildcat Branch Tributary Falls.

It's a small sliding waterfall and not real impressive, but the water level was decent today.

After this we finished up the loop.  I walked on the road a quarter-mile or so west to where Slickum Creek crosses under.  The spot is difficult to find and it was easier for Sandy to just drive to me.  After parking, we followed a path into the woods into Eva Russell Chandler Heritage Preserve.

Last Falls on Slickum Creek was a hundred feet from the road, but the area was too dense to see it without making the short hike into the woods.

The lighting was poor, but at least the waterfall was evenly illuminated.  The path continued up the creek another 0.1 miles to a steep scramble down to Sweet Thing.

We were able to get Harper down and she enjoyed checking out the waterfall.

Then we made the short hike back to the road.

From here, we headed back to Pickens.  Ellen invited us to dinner with her and some of the locals down at the library.  The food was really good and Ellen enjoyed spending some time with Harper.