Gabriel's First Adventure

What's the best cure for Cabin Fever? A cabin in Upstate South Carolina! We made a last minute decision to rent a cabin from this place just up HI-28 from Walhalla. They were located right in the middle of the area we usually go hiking in. I knew I couldn't get away with tent camping at this stage in the game, and these were the cheapest cabins around.



You've probably seen rustic looking cabins in the mountains, with wooden beams and vaulted ceilings. Those same cabins were probably decked out with all the amenities of a resort hotel. Well these cabins weren't that type of rustic. They were truly rustic. One room, measuring about 20'x 15', with a separate bathroom in the corner. A nice little, and I do mean little, front porch for sipping your morning coffee. The inside had a small kitchenette. There was no oven, but it had a small Weber grill outside and a two burner stove inside, one of which didn't work. It came equipped with a massive 13 inch T.V. and VCR, straight out of 1993. The decorations on the wall were enough to make any flea market vendor blush. Everything was clean, including the bathroom that looked like it belonged in a mobile home. But it was still quite charming, and made for a nostalgic weekend of watching old VHS's after a day in the mountains.



The first day I got up early and loaded up the dogs and headed just up the road to Oconee State Park. There was a waterfall there that I hadn't seen yet. I've pretty much wiped the map clean in this area of waterfalls, but this was one I hadn't made it out to yet. We started out at about 10 a.m. For a while it looked like we were going to have the trail to ourselves. One of the reasons I had avoided this hike in the past was because it was in the State Park, which usually means plenty of R.V. campers and busy trails. About halfway through the trail we ran into our first trail sharer. No big deal. But he suddenly started yelling ahead somewhat frantically to someone else. "ANOTHER DOG! ANOTHER DOG!... TWO! TWO MORE DOGS!" I asked him if he would feel better if I put them on the leash. I thought maybe the person ahead had a bad fear of dogs or something. Nope. It was a problem I've ran into before. It seems to happen a lot more often in this part of the country than places out west or further north. They had two dogs with them, OFF the leash, who were meat-eaters. They were the type of dog that was trained to be out for blood. I will never understand this. They obviously knew their dogs don't get along with other living things, so why bring them to a state park, to a trail in the woods. When you take a dog to the woods, their instincts are enhanced because of the environment. If they are hunting dogs, they're really going to put their nose to the ground and get to sniffing. If they are protective dogs, they are going to be even more protective because of the new surroundings. So people take these overly aggressive dogs into the trails, and they are trying to tear everything apart. It drives me nuts.

Anyhow! We rushed past, after getting their two dogs off of Austin and Star. At this point we started moving as fast as we could because I knew we wouldn't have much peaceful time at the waterfall alone before the man-killers showed up and wrecked it.



The site was one of mixed emotions. The base of the waterfall had been wrecked by runoff. I knew it had to be sometime recent, because none of this wreckage was evident in any of the pictures I had seen in the past. It took some scrambling around to get the camera set up. The waterfall itself was nice, but before I really had a chance to relax and soak it all in, our group of man-killers showed up to crash the fun. I was in the process of testing out my new remote shutter. It allowed me to set the camera up at the base, then climb up the slippery base of the falls to get a good shot of me and the dogs up high on the waterfall. Sure enough the other group with their two dogs showed up and precisely the worst time, right when I was high on the waterfall, unable to get down to my camera gear in a timely manner. I scrambled down quickly to get my stuff all put back up when I heard Austin crying from up on the waterfall's rock face. I had attached their leashes, to make it easier to pull them away if a fight ensued, and his leash got hung on some rocks. So as I headed back up, Star got entangled with one of the other dogs back down at the base. It obviously made for a less than enjoyable trail experience. I think we may go back to this waterfall again sometime in the future. The whole experience left me with a bad taste in my mouth, and I wasn't exactly able to enjoy my surroundings.


Again, sorry for the poor picture quality.

We headed back to the cabin. The rest of the day we just drove around the mountains enjoying the views. We went down to the cabin office and checked out some old movies for the VCR and Big Screen. We grilled some K-Bobs and watched Young Guns!

The next morning... or afternoon, whichever it was when we pulled ourselves out of bed, we spent some more time just driving around checking out the sights. We originally were going to hike up to a lookout tower, but when we got to the trailhead a park ranger told us that it was gated up and locked. After that we headed to the trailhead for Licklog and Pig Pen Falls. It was supposed to be a short hike, but it was one I hadn't gotten around to doing till now. When we got to the trailhead Laura told me all she had was flip-flops. That, combined with Gabriel's sudden spurt of grumpiness, I decided to call it off. I told Laura I didn't feel comfortable with her carrying him down the trail in flip-flops, especially with him being all fussy. She told me she agreed, and said I could go down myself to see if I could find the waterfall.

The trail was short, and full of excellent camping spots. There was a nice tumbling stream that followed about 50 feet below trail the whole way. After walking through the first campsite, the creek and the trail meet and stay side by side the rest of the way. Not long after that we heard some real turbulence, but the creek at that was well hidden (even though it was next to the trail) by some extremely thick Mountain Laurel and Rosebay Rhododendron. I bushwhacked to get through it and found this small but powerful sluice. There was really no way to get a good wide angle shot that would have done the scene justice.




We made it back out to the trail and headed down just a few yards to find one of the falls. Now will be a good time to mention that I left all my guide books back home for this trip, so I felt extremely lost and out of touch the entire time. I knew that Licklog Falls and Pigpen Falls was somewhere on this trail. Also, this was my first trip with a new camera. The new camera took great shots of everything except waterfalls. I really wasn't happy with what I was getting on the slow shutter speed.



The scene here was really nice though. Directly behind where I was standing to take this picture was a really nice flat camping area. I didn't realize it, but the last leg (or first leg, depending on which way you hike it) of the Foothills Trail comes right near here. Also, at this spot, the Chatooga River Trail comes through. There's a nice wooden footbridge crosses the stream just to the right. I wanted to explore it a little, but with the wife and baby waiting back at the trailhead, I didn't want to take too much time.

After reading the guide book once we got back home, I came to the conclusion that this was Pig Pen Falls. We continued downstream to arrive at the stream's junction with the Chatooga River. It came surprisingly quick, and was punctuated by the stream making a scenic 40-foot plunge into the river.



Again, a less that stellar shot that doesn't do the whole scene any sort of justice. So I checked this one out after getting back home, and come to find out this is "Lower" Licklog Falls. I had no idea. That obviously means that there is an "Upper" Licklog Falls somewhere that I missed.

We did spend a few minutes just taking this all in. There's just something about the Chatooga River that leaves me in a little bit of awe every time I arrive at it on the trail. Its really had to describe. If you are headed to Upstate South Carolina and are looking for one thing to do, this would be my recommendation. Find a few spots on the Chatooga River to go exploring. Even with Laura and Gabriel waiting for me back at the car, I still had to slow down and enjoy the dogs playing and the waters tumbling.






Next, we decided to use the last few moments of daylight to run on over to Whitewater Falls. This goliath of the South East is located just feet across the South Carolina border into North Carolina. It really depends on who you ask as to how tall this one is. Just downstream from it is Lower Whitewater Falls. A lot of people in the area add these two together and call it the tallest waterfall east of the Mississippi River. I think that's a bit of a stretch since they are separated by a good half mile, maybe more. The river does do a good bit of tumbling, which I got to see when I did the Foothills Trail with Greg this time last year. I won't even go as far to post a height for this one, since so many people have so many different numbers for it. Just know that its huge; even bigger than it looks in any of these pictures.






With that, we headed back up the trail to car. We made our way back to our cozy cabin, put some good grub on, and settled in for another great showing on the 13 inch!

Our only goal for Day 3 was to get down to the Walhalla State Fish Hatchery. We tried to pay it a visit the day before, but got there just after the doors were closed. So we pulled up, got the baby all strapped into his little carrying harness and headed in. There were people carrying fishing poles walking around everywhere. The hatchery is located on a stream. It was probably once a river, but the water usage of the hatchery makes it appear more stream-like. It's still a really pleasant setting. The hatchery itself was a bit of a surprise. Basically, it was just a series of holding pools, rectangular in shape, that had a steady current flowing through them. They were lined up, five or six long, in about four rows. It seems like they were set up in the middle of like a Walmart parking lot. Nothing special, just a large lot, leveled out, then paved. It's got a chain-link fence surrounding it, and you just walk through a simple gate right up to the holding tanks; no entry fee or anything involved. The place you enter starts you at a tank with small trout, and as you walk, they get bigger and bigger. The last few tanks had trout larger than I thought they ever got. Those fish had to be close to 10 pounds. It was pretty impressive.





After that we headed up the road to try and tackle the Bee Cove Falls series. I knew this one was pretty hard to find, so getting there without double checking my guide book (remember, I left it at home) was going to be pretty tough. We found what I thought was the proper Forest Road. We drove down it as far as we could to a fallen tree. At that point me and the dogs hopped out, leaving Laura and Gabriel in the Jeep. The road was easily followed, but after a couple miles, I had gone well past the point I had marked on the GPS signifying a break from the trail for a descent down to the creek. There was no sign of a side trail, but there was sign of some fresh bear activity. Fresh enough that I would venture to say it heard us coming down the road and scrammed (thank goodness!).



We made it back up to the car and headed down the road. I wanted to try and get to the trailhead of Lower Whitewater Falls. We went right past this beauty while we were on the Foothills Trail and missed it. I had been in the area several times with this one on my to-do list, but for some reason never made it to the trail. Again, I was flying a little blind without the guide book, but I thought I could at least find the trail head. Well, I was wrong. It wasn't where I thought it was, and I wasn't in the mood to spend the rest of the day searching for it without the luxury of my book. But now we were real close to Station Cove Falls. I had visited this one before, but it was when the water levels were so low there was nothing falling over the rocks. The hike was extremely short, less than 30 minutes, and it was a great spectacle flowing at full force.





After that excellent end to our 3rd day in the Upstate, we headed back toward the cabin. We stopped at a produce stand and got some fresh peaches, homemade jams and pickled okra to add to our evening meal. We enjoyed our last night in that little ol' cabin, and headed to bed.

We woke up slowly again Saturday morning. Took our time getting all packed up. At first we figured we would just pack up, check out, maybe grab a bite to eat in Walhwalla and head home. Last minute, as we pulled out, I decided to head on over to a roadside waterfall. Mainly, I wanted to give the new camera another try on another waterfall. I was hoping it would change my opinion. We got to the waterfall. I made the three minute hike down to Reedy Falls while Laura stayed in the car with the babe. It was going to be a quick visit.



I snapped a few more photos, and as goes the story of this trip, wasn't really very happy with any of them. I got back to the car and told Laura it was a really short hike, so she said she wanted to go down and see it. So we loaded up the baby and headed down to the waterfall again. We stopped at a little footbridge to take some family photos.



After a few hundred more pictures here, we headed down the rest of the way to the waterfall. I tried to get another good family shot at the base, but it just wasn't working out. I did get a really good one of Laura and the little man though. It's probably my favorite picture.





After that fun photo shoot, we headed over to Brasstown for one last bit of fun before heading home. I figured it would also be a good final test for the camera to see if I could fix the settings. Brasstown Falls is such a picture perfect waterfall, I knew it would be a good test. Brasstown, just in case you have missed my other posts on this great little nugget, is a series of four really great waterfalls. All four falls are located within about a quarter mile of each other, which is less than half a mile from the trail head. So that makes it a great place for families. The unfortunate part is, its accessibility brings out a lot of crowds that couldn't care less about leaving no trace behind. Often times we have been here there was trash on every inch of the trail.

Anyhow, I headed upstream to Little Brasstown Falls. We actually had been out to the Brasstown Series a number of times before we realized that this little jewel was just a few hundred yards upstream.



After that, the next one in the series is the Brasstown Cascade. Its a really nice tumble of about 45-55 feet. Its not great for photography, but its a really pretty site in person.



The third is the real beauty. Brasstown Falls (or Brasstown Veil) is literally about 20 feet downstream from the cascade. If you are standing at the base of the cascade, you can turn and easily look over the edge of the top of the veil. The trail to get to the base gets a little more tricky here, and the nature of the spray makes the rocks a serious hazard. I got to the bottom and got set up, and of course the pictures just did NOT come out like I was hoping. At that point I was feeling a little weak, so I skipped the fourth falls. It's a sluice, again starting only a few feet from the waterfall upstream. There was a pretty good crowd swimming in the pool at its base, so I knew taking good pictures wasn't going to happen anyway.



All in all I'd say it was a heck of a weekend. It's only a shame that Gabriel is too young to remember this one when he gets older! I know he'll have many more in his future though! Can't wait...

The Golden Corner Never Disappoints

Man! Did it ever feel good to get back out on the trails. It seems like it's been forever. The last post had me thinking surely I wouldn't get to head back out for another 2, probably 3 months. I bumped into Dennis at work and he was chomping at the bit, ready to go. I, of course, had to oblige him. We made plans for a night hike into Burrell's Ford campground. It's a super short walk into a semi developed primitive camp site along the South Carolina side of the Chattooga River. Laura decided to give this one last go. The hike to the campsite was a short one and the next day she would spend most of the time acting as our taxi, rather than hiking with us. We'll call her the Prego Trail Warrior. Things went off pretty much without a hitch. Dennis brought along his brother, Robert. They decided to drive up separately and meet us at the trailhead. We walked down with headlamps blazing and got to the campsite without a hiccup. The weather was a little chillier than anticipated, but other than that all was well. We set up and got ready for bed. That night the trip appeared to be taking a turn for the worst. We already knew that Laura was pretty much done with the hiking part of our weekend adventures, but the sleepless night in the cold and on a very thin ground pad proved to be the end of her camping part of our weekend adventures as well. (That is, of course, until after our bundle of joy arrives.)



The next morning I was up bright and early and wanted to get at least a little fire going so Laura could get some sort of warmth when she rolled out of her bag. Dennis joined me shortly there after, and along with his brother we decided to make the short hike over to King Creek Falls (above). This was one I visited back in the fall of '07 and it certainly made an impression then. The trail from Burrell's Ford is only about a half mile, but is very pleasant. The rhododendron makes a tight canopy overhead for the first portion of the trail. Then you meet a junction with the Foothills Trail, cross a short bridge over King Creek, then follow the tumbling creek up to the falls. We hung out there for about a half hour. I got busy snapping photos. Notice that the north (left) side of the falls has icicles clinging to the granite. Geez... last night was colder than we thought!



I snapped a few more pictures of the remnants of the winter storm that had blown through only about 48 hours earlier. We then headed back to camp to be sure Laura hadn't been eaten by any bears. To our surprise she was up and at 'em, and doing a better job of gathering fire wood than I had. At that point we decided to head on over to another short hike, this one to Spoonauger Falls. On my trip to the area in the winter of '07 this waterfall eluded me. At the time I had no GPS. Without a GPS, you have to be a little more careful on searching for unknown trails. After a short search, I called the search off, only to find out after looking at a map I had turned around about a quarter mile short. SO! Off we headed, GPS in hand, to find Spoonauger Falls.



I tried climbing the battered south (left) side of the creek bank to get a better angle on the falls. The angle from down low makes this one seem much shorter than what it is. Compared to the above picture of King Creek Falls, you would think Spoonauger was much short, but actually it measures about 5 feet higher. Some waterfalls are more photogenic than others. The creek valley formed by this unnamed stream appears to be pretty hard hit by downed trees and erosion. The hike over to the falls parallels the unpaved Burrell's Ford road. At this point the trail overlaps the Chattooga River Trail (a multi-day trail on my short list). After the trail crosses the road it's only a short distance, and a hop over a small stream, where the Spoonauger Falls trail climbs slightly up and to the right. An interesting piece I read about this waterfall, the name of the falls comes from a family that used to live at the top of the waterfall. That came as a shock to us who saw the relief of the mountains in that area. We're still not sure where they would have put a house. We played around a little, then headed back to the campsite to pack up and head out.



Our original plan to do an 8 mile point-to-point hike was quickly thwarted when we saw that the forest service was doing a controlled burn on one of the mountains we were planning to hike on. So we headed in to town and decided to make new plans over Arby's. First up, we were going to hike down the Winding Stairs Trail. This trail is named for its short series of steep switchbacks. The little secret it holds is in the form of the Miuka Falls Series. It really isn't a secret. The secret is actually getting down to a place where you can view the waterfalls, rather than just hear them.



It wasn't easy getting this shot. The well hidden side trail comes in from the north (left). The interesting thing about this creek is that there is no creek bed. Because of there being an abundance of granite in these mountains, sometimes the water can't cut into the rock to form a bed. That's part of the reason you see so many granite faces behind the waterfalls in my pictures. Well, where this water is trying to escape the mountain happens to be a long running vein of granite. So instead of the stream flowing down the mountain in a creek bed, its sliding down the mountain almost like water would flow down your windshield. Getting across to the other side of that slippery slope was a scary prospect. If you slip, the angle isn't dangerous, but who knows when you would actually find a stopping point.


(This is a shot of Austin trying to manueuver the aforementioned slippery granite.)

From here we made our way back up to the trail and headed on down. Lower Miuka Falls was a little of a let down, especially after the off-trail bushwhacking we had to do to get to it. The walk down from there was nice and relaxing. It was a pretty steep descent. Lucky for us we had a ride waiting on the bottom, relieving us of the duty of climbing it back to the top. At the bottom we stumbled upon some huge wads of course black animal hair about 2 inches long. Don't worry, no bear encounter. We met back up with Laura (who was trying to recoup some of her lost sleeping time from the night before) waiting in the Jeep. At that point we decided to head on up another trail for a short half mile romp to another waterfall.



Crane Creek Falls isn't overly impressive. Its unusual shape and flow are really what sets this one apart. The hike over is a really short walk up Crane Creek from the parking area. About half way between the falls and the camping area there is a nice clearing in a bend in the creek perfect for setting up camp. We didn't spend too much time here. The sun was heading down and we really wanted to get in one last trail.

We can undoubtedly say we saved the best for this trip, and that's saying a lot. The guide book warned us, "Lee Falls is the Upstate's best kept secret." The trail is apparently very lightly used by locals, and almost unheard of to most people who come to the area as tourists. (The only way I found out about it was by getting a hold of a cheaply made SC waterfall book.) We got to the trailhead knowing time was going to be a crunch. Laura decided to hang back on this one since we would be double-timing it in and out to beat the sunset. Just in case, we stuffed our headlamps into our pockets and pushed off. The trail started by leading us through, of all things, three pastures. I can see why many avid hikers would avoid this trail. You start by walking nearly a mile through a tractor-maintained pasture. Shortly after you join up with Tamasee Creek. The guide book talks about an old gold operation that used to be in the area. On the way back we found the old gold smelter. Neat. Because of its light use, the trail was hard to follow. But after about a mile and a half we were not disappointed.



Lee Falls drops softly in three sections about 100 feet before coming in contact with the base of the cliff. It continues to fall sharply in smaller sections for another 50 feet before leveling out. I could have spent an entire evening shooting this waterfall. Unfortunately time was not on our side. I tried to scamper up the steep banks quickly to get a good shot. Again, it was pretty cool seeing portions of the cliff face frozen from the winter storm. We didn't get to spend much time here, but the time we were here was spent looking up and gawking. Dennis quickly tagged it as the most impressive he had ever seen. It certainly falls into my top five (not exactly sure where). I still leave Virgin Falls, Tennessee, at my number one (see my first blog entry for details). We all but ran back to the parking area, getting back just before the last rays of daylight slipped behind the Blue Ridge.

WHAT A DAY! We had planned to camp that night as well, but with Laura having such a rough go the night before, I didn't wanna put her through that again. Luckily, Dennis' parents live in Greenville. We headed over and got a fresh shower and a nice meal. It was a prefect ending to a great day on the trail. As usual, leaving this area for Augusta made me wish I could spend every day in the Upstate. We'll be back first chance we get!!!!

Another Lifer!

This is a hike we did back in August. And when I say "we", I don't mean the usual "we". Laura was spending her last weekend at Camp Lejeune, so she was a no-go for this one. I finally talked a co-worker of mine, a fellow Airman, Dennis, into going with me. Anytime you take people hiking or backpacking with you, you can usually tell within the first hour of the trip whether or not they will ever go on another trip. Getting people to go backpacking is a non-stop effort. I go hiking probably every other weekend or so in the three warmer seasons, and probably once a month in winter. EVERY time I go I try to recruit anyone from work that I can to come with me. It's usually the same reaction I get when I ask. "Hey man, sounds pretty cool. Where are you going camping? Can we bring beer? No? Oh, I'm actually supposed to go to the bar with my friends this weekend. Maybe next time." And of course there is actually never a next time. So needless to say I was excited to hear that Dennis was going to come, and he was bringing a friend of his from tech school with us.



We prepped to camp for two nights, and made three stops. All three stops were in the Golden Corner. (The Golden Corner is what they call the three counties in the western tip of South Carolina). We got to Brasstown Creek just as night was setting in. We set up camp, cooked some food, and washed up in the creek. I was anxious to show the guys the Brasstown Waterfall Series that was less than a quarter mile from our tents that night. The next morning we packed up and went on down to the waterfalls. The guys were just as blown away as I was the first time I stumbled upon these falls. The first is a 30 foot wide cascade tumbling slowly down a rocky incline. Just 20 meters downstream is a 20 foot waterfall flowing over a cliff face. It's a very picturesque waterfall, one of the best I've seen (above). Then the third part, again just 20 meters or so down stream, is a sluice that drains into an awesome swimming pool, framed to the north by a beautiful cliff face.


((left to right: EVAN, DENNIS (kneeling), ME, & AUSTIN -one of my two dogs))

The next stop was just up the road (an old forest service dirt road) from our campsite. We walked to the top of Pine Mountain and caught some really amazing panoramic views (as pictured above).


After that, we headed up the road to the Chattooga River. If you are ever in this part of South Carolina, you have to go enjoy the views of the Chattooga River Valley. After driving through the rain on a questionable dirt road, we arrived at the trail head. We sat in the car for a few minutes to wait for the rain to stop. Sure enough the clouds rolled back. We loaded up and headed down the valley wall. We arrived at the river, and there was an awesome spot just across the river perfect for our three tents. We set up early and spent the rest of the day walking up and down the river soaking in the views.

After the trip, Dennis was already talking about all the gear he needed to be a fully equipped backpacker (he was using all my wife's stuff for this trip). I knew then I had found another lifer. He was hooked. We have tried to get some trips together since then, but our schedules haven't worked out. We do have dates set aside for the week after next. I'll keep you posted!

Three Forks Junction With My Parents

The Three Forks Junction is a place where three creeks flow together to form the West Fork of the Chattooga River (The river where the movie "Deliverance" was filmed). From the north, Overflow Creek flows in. From the west is Holcomb Creek, losing elevation fast and flowing narrowly between two mountains before reaching the junction. From the east flows Big Creek. Big Creek carries the most water into the junction, and has some amazing waterfalls just upstream. Right in the middle of all this there is just enough flat and soft ground that allow you to set up camp with water flowing in all directions, surrounded by mountains. The amazing scenery combined with a fairly simple, yet rarely undertaken hike makes it my favorite camping spot. I wish everyone I knew had a chance to come and spend a couple nights out here. I had the pleasure of taking my parents on their first backpacking trip here. It was a great experience for all parties involved.


That very trip will be one that I remember for a long time. The biggest skeptic was my dad. We had to wheel and deal to get him out there. Part of the deal was we would find a way to get him an air mattress AND the pump to the camp site. And we would hike in real food, not trail food. Also, his pack had to weigh less than 20 pounds. I recruited Greg for the trip, and me and him stuffed our packs, including the air mattress and pump, so that Daddy's demands would be met. I could see that both my parents were really enjoying the scenery on the way in, even though the trail was in really rough shape. We ended up decending a mountain side completely off the trail at one point because the markings were gone. It ended up being one of the more rugged hikes I've taken. I felt bad about promising my parents an easy hike, then running into all the problems we did, but they laughed about it once we were at the campsite. We set up camp and then began playing around on some of the boulders and waterfalls surrounding the campsite. It was great to see Momma acting like a twelve-year-old, jumping across creeks and playing on big rocks. My mom talks all the time about that trip, and they plan on making another go at it next time they are in Georgia.

Here are some of our photos from the trip we made in December. The weather was nasty, but it was a rare warm weekend in December, so we headed out anyway. Enjoy!

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