THE WHOLE POSSUM
A
few years ago I made my first visit to Sid’s Falls on Shoulder Bone Branch,
which is a major tributary of Opossum Creek in Oconee County, South
Carolina. Until recently Sid’s Falls was
largely off the radar, despite being one of the most beautiful waterfalls in
the state. The old trail to the
waterfall was destroyed in a storm years ago, and the waterfall was largely
inaccessible until Bernie Boyer built a new trail to it.
Downstream
from Sid’s, Shoulder Bone Branch joins Opossum Creek before spilling over
Opossum Creek Falls. From there it makes
a short run to the Chattooga River. It
joins the river just upstream from the beginning of the infamous Five Falls –
some of the largest and most dangerous rapids on the river.
Shortly
before my visit to Sid’s, a few friends had explored the area. Brenda, Darrin, Mitch, and Kameron had gotten
lost on the way to Sid’s. They
accidentally stumbled upon another waterfall upstream from Sid’s, which they
took to calling “Not Sid’s Falls”. One
of the South Carolina Waterfall guidebooks calls this one Shoulder Bone Branch
Falls. A bit later they wandered into
the wrong drainage and came out at the top of an undocumented waterfall on
upper Opossum Creek. Unfortunately
they weren’t able to find a way down to the base. Later on I decided to call that one Upossum Falls, since it is on the upper end of Opossum
Creek, upstream from Opossum Creek Falls.
They
did eventually find their way down to Sid’s Falls that day. When Brenda shared her GPS track with me I
was puzzled. She showed the base of the
falls at 1,400’. That wasn’t what I
expected. The topo map shows steeper
terrain farther downstream. I’d thought that
Sid’s was closer to 1,300’. At first I
thought her GPS was off. Later, after my
hike to Sid’s, I realized that her GPS was in fact correct. That begged the question – was there another
waterfall a short distance downstream?
I
made two subsequent hikes to Sid’s Falls with the intention of exploring
downstream. On both occasions, high
water levels dissuaded me.
Opossum
Creek Falls is well-known, and Sid’s is becoming popular. Sooner or later someone would explore the
stretch of creek between those two waterfalls.
In fact, my friend Spencer recently bushwhacked to the base of Upossum Falls. I was
surprised that he didn’t explore downstream from Sid’s, but he was there during
a period of high water, too.
It
was long past time for a thorough exploration of Opossum Creek and Shoulder
Bone Branch. I organized a Team
Waterfall mission last weekend. Jennifer
and Scott decided to join me, and Darrin made a surprise appearance at the
trailhead that morning. We had a great
group for this adventure!
We
left a couple of cars at the trailhead for Sid’s Falls and shuttled over to the
Opossum Creek Trailhead. We started our
hike with a couple of miles on good trail.
Along the way we passed above a small waterfall on Camp Branch. We debated the merits of bushwhacking down
for a closer look, but decided to skip it.
We weren’t sure how long it would take to hike upstream along Opossum
Creek, and we didn’t want to be rushed.
The
forecast called for highs in the mid-90’s, and it was getting hot by the time
we reached the Chattooga River. We took a
long break on the beach there, took a swim, and had lunch. Shortly before we left, another group arrived. They had several dogs, which was thrilling for
my dogs, Boone and Kona. Once the
excitement settled down we packed up and followed the trail upstream to Opossum
Creek Falls.
The
trail ends at the base of Opossum Creek Falls.
I’ve seen it officially listed at 50’ high, but it is quite a bit larger
than that. I’d guess it is closer to 100’. It’s an impressive waterfall, but the view
from the base isn’t great. Fortunately,
it isn’t terribly difficult to get a better view. There are scramble paths on both sides of the
waterfall. Scott headed up River Left
and reached the top of the lower drop in a couple of minutes. After taking a few photos, we scrambled up
the slope to join him at the base of the upper drop. The view from here is much better than from
the base. The upper portion of Opossum
Creek Falls is extremely scenic, particularly at lower water levels. Although it was a sunny day, we were lucky
enough to catch a passing cloud for photos.
Getting
upstream from there was tougher. Both
sides looked challenging. We decided to
stay on River Left. There is a cliff on
that side, but the vegetation isn’t as thick.
We climbed up and around the cliff before bushwhacking back down to the
creek. We hit it just below the brink of
the falls. At that point we had to deal
with a short but tricky scramble. Darrin
and Scott went first. Jennifer and I
were passing our packs and the dogs up when Darrin was attacked by yellow
jackets. Getting stung by bees
sucks. Getting stung by bees at the
brink of a huge waterfall really sucks.
That brings up a question. What
is the worst place to get stung by a bee?
A)
At
the brink of a huge waterfall
B)
While
driving in rush hour traffic
C)
In
the junk
D)
All
of the above
Obviously
D is the correct answer. C would almost
certainly send you into prophylactic shock.
Darrin
ran away, which was puzzling since we didn’t know what was going on. Jennifer and I scrambled up, and somehow
managed to avoid the bees. I got mine
later though, getting stung a couple of times farther upstream.
The
hike from there to the confluence of Opossum Creek and Shoulder Bone Branch was
fairly uneventful. We stayed in the
creek the whole way, as the hillsides were covered in rhododendron jungle. The water was mainly ankle to knee deep,
though there were a few places that were deeper. There were some fallen trees to deal with,
but the obstacles were pretty minor. We
encountered a few small, sliding cascades before reaching the confluence. Oddly, Shoulder Bone Branch provides about ¾ of
the water, while the upper part of Opossum Creek is much smaller.
We
decided to continue up Opossum Creek to get to the base of Upossum
Falls. This was the most challenging
stretch of the hike. There were a lot of
fallen trees, and before long we found ourselves squeezing through a minor slot
canyon. Above that point we had to
scramble up a couple of small waterfalls.
We finally reached the base of Upossum Falls a
bit later. This was particularly
satisfying for Darrin, since he had hiked to the brink of this waterfall
several years earlier. He celebrated by
scrambling up to the top of the falls.
This is feasible in low water, as the waterfall features a long run of
small ledges.
After
a break we headed back to the confluence.
Then we started wading up Shoulder Bone Branch. I was bringing up the year when I heard
Jennifer yell. That sounded
encouraging! I turned a corner and saw
falling water ahead. I emerged from the
woods and found myself at the edge of a big pool. Directly across from me was a sheer cliff and
a 25’ waterfall. Woohoo! Team Waterfall scores again! I’d thought there might be a waterfall along
this stretch of creek, and the validation was a thrill.
We
took a long break there. We swam in the
pool and immersed ourselves in the waterfall.
While we were there, we noticed that the sun was shining on the face of
the waterfall, which is draped in moss.
The sunshine was illuminating individual water drops clinging to the
moss. Those drops were shining like
gems. Darrin suggested calling it
Sparkle Falls after those brilliant colors.
He may have been joking, but the rest of us jumped all over it. It is a unique name, and, at least at the
time, relevant. So we are calling it Sparkle
Falls on Shoulder Bone Branch.
Proceeding
from there was challenging due to the sheer cliff that forms the
waterfall. Scott scouted a route on
River Right that climbed up and away from the creek, following the base of the
cliff. The wall eventually relented and
we were able to scramble over it and back down to the creek. Scott made a brief detour to the top of the
falls and then met us to resume the hike upstream. From there we passed a few minor cascades and
lots of deep pools. It wasn’t long
before we turned a corner and found Sid’s Falls towering high above us. We waded up to the base and took another long
break before hiking the trail out to our cars.
The
water level was perfect for our hike. It
was fairly low, which made the wading and scrambling easier. It also made Opossum Creek Falls prettier, as
it revealed the many mossy ledges on the upper portion of the waterfall. On the other hand, I prefer Sid’s Falls
during periods of high water. If you
only want to visit Sid’s I recommend going when the water is up.
We
left the parking area around 5:30. Later I found out that we just missed
our friends Spencer and Stephanie. They
had passed by there on the way down to Lake Tugaloo. They did an evening kayaking trip on the lake
and discovered a waterfall of their own.
It was a great day for Team Waterfall!
GPS
track: https://www.gaiagps.com/public/PSwvqzF8YkTrWUIRym7XCEIS/#?layer=CalTopo
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