OLD FRIENDS AND NEW
(or, a most excellent backup
plan)
Last
Saturday I planned a return trip to Windy Falls on the Horsepasture
River. I had hiked there in October with
Brenda, Bob J, and Billy. On that day,
we hiked to the top of the falls before descending an obscure route to a stone
perch just above the plunge pool at the base of the main drop. That hiked had stirred up a lot of interest
on social media. For our return, I hoped
to find a route down through the “Keyhole” to reach the plunge pool
itself. I was expecting a lot of serious
scrambling to go along with the hardcore bushwhacking that is necessary to
access this area.
I
planned the hike for Saturday, March 14th because my friend Mitch
would be in town. Mitch was visiting
Darrin, and they planned to spend the whole week hiking. Saturday was the only day that we could all
hike together though.
I
invited a number of other hikers to join us.
However, the invitation had one caveat – we would need dry weather the
day before the hike and the day of the hike.
Otherwise, the rocks near the top of the falls would be too slippery to
traverse safely.
The
best ways to guarantee rain are for my friend Jack to go camping or to plan a
hike to Windy Falls. On Monday, the
forecast looked discouraging. It was
expected to rain all week, and not let up until Saturday afternoon. As the week went on, the forecast failed to
improve. I had 10 hardcore hikers signed
up for the Windy Falls hike. That meant
that I needed a backup plan worthy of such an accomplished group.
I
made a few suggestions, including Laurel Leap Falls near Linville Gorge and
Fungi Falls in the Green River Game Lands.
I also suggested an exploratory hike to a possible waterfall near Rocky
Bottom, SC. It is on a creek that looks
somewhat promising on the topo map.
Spencer asked if it was on Abner Creek.
I replied that Abner Creek wasn’t the one I was referring to, but that
Abner was also on my to-do list.
Some
research and info from friends revealed that the waterfall on Abner Creek is
Pinnacle Falls. I’d heard about Pinnacle
Falls previously, but never knew exactly where it was. All of the information I found indicated that
it was on private property. The property
is a camp that is owned by Clemson University.
I
did some additional researching using the topo map and the GIS map for Pickens
County. Based upon the GIS, the
waterfall actually appears to be on public property owned by the State of South
Carolina. The private property boundary
is actually a short distance downstream from the falls. The only easy access is through camp
property, but Team Waterfall isn’t necessarily interested in easy access. We frequently enjoy doing things the hard
way.
We
all met at the Foothills Trail parking area on Horsepasture
Road around 9:30 Saturday morning. Our
group consisted of Brenda, Jack, Darrin, Mitch, Thomas (the Badger), Kitty (the
Rock Sprite), Spencer, Stephanie, and Dillon. It was great seeing Mitch again. We had last hiked together a year earlier,
though I had visited him more recently during a work trip to St. Louis. It was also the first time I’d seen Darrin in
over a month, and the first time I’d hiked with Jack in several months. In fact, I hadn’t even seen Brenda since
January!
It
was my first time hiking with everybody else.
Spencer is an energetic explorer that has made a number of exciting
discoveries in Linville Gorge and throughout the southeast. His girlfriend, Stephanie, is equally
enthusiastic, and the two of them are two of the strongest hikers I’ve ever
met. Their friend Dillon was also eager
for another adventure. Thomas and Kitty
are well-known explorers of waterfalls, and it was obvious that they would fit
right with Team Waterfall, too.
We
were all standing around the parking lot chatting in the rain, and I was
amazed. How many people do you know that
would be eager to go bushwhacking in the rain on a Saturday morning? I guess we have a way of finding each
other.
We
had 10 in our group, not counting my dogs, Boone and Kona. Since Boone and Kona are official members of
Team Waterfall, we named our group the Dirty Dozen. With a week of sold rain and bushwhacking on
the agenda, we were sure to live up to our new name.
Spencer’s
original plan had been to hike off-trail from highway 178 north of the camp
property. We would skirt around the
private property, staying west and north of the camp, before working our way to
the base of the falls. However, some
folks (mostly me) had some misgivings about starting our hike
with a steep bushwhack through wet vegetation. I’d come up with an alternate approach. We could start our hike at Chimneytop Gap, on the road to Sassafras Mountain. From there, we could follow a logging road
that winds around and down past the camp to highway 178. The road would provide easier access to the
jumping off point where we’d have to bushwhack over to the base of the
falls. Starting at Chimneytop
Gap also meant that it would be easier to park several cars. We weren’t sure about parking along highway
178.
We
actually managed to get 10 people, 2 dogs, and gear into 3 cars for the short
drive to the trailhead. We found a wide pulloff with plenty of room between two dirt roads heading
in the correct direction. The upper road
heads uphill towards Chimneytop Mountain. The second road, which descends gradually to
Abner Creek, was the one we wanted.
The
first part of the hike was on the old road, which was muddy and rather
ugly. It took us where we needed to go
though, and offered easy hiking. We
descended to a ford of Abner Creek.
Crossing was a little tricky because the water was way up. Luckily there were some fallen logs that enabled
most of us to cross without getting our feet wet. A short distance farther on we hopped across
Dogwood Creek – a major tributary.
Although the water was up, this creek was much smaller. After the crossing, we followed the road up
and around a major ridge. There were a
number of side roads along here, but I was mainly navigating by instinct. We generally stuck to the main road, and when
in doubt, went left. Eventually we began
to descend again, and soon we found ourselves on a narrow ridge. After another descent, we could hear the
waterfall roaring off to our left. At
this point, Spencer noticed an old roadbed contouring down into the valley
below us. It looked promising, so we
decided to follow it.
There
wasn’t much left of the road, but were able to follow remnants. We contoured through a gully and onto another
ridge. We followed this ridge steeply
down to its base. From there, a short
walk brought us to Abner Creek. A
tricky, slippery rock hop enabled us to cross the creek. On the far side, we found a good trail marked
with ribbons coming up from the camp. We
followed it back upstream, and reached the base of a significant cascade a
couple of minutes later.
At
first I was disappointed. Was this
it? I had been expecting more. However, it looked like the creek curved
around a bend just upstream from the cascade.
Maybe there was more up there.
We
were debating which side to climb when Spencer returned from scouting. He’d found a good trail, complete with steps
and railings, heading up the right side.
We followed him, and after a couple of minutes Pinnacle Falls came into
view. Wow! One of the best parts of hiking to a new waterfall
is that initial thrill when you first see it.
Pinnacle Falls does not disappoint in that regard. It’s big, powerful, and pretty.
The
trail led to a developed overlook. We
stopped there for photos, before descending to the base of the falls. The route down is steep and
slippery, but there are fixed ropes in place. The view from the base of the falls was even better. Some folks waded the
creek at the brink of the lower cascades and found another trail switchbacking up the left side of the falls. A spur path off that trail leads out to a
cool spot near the top of the falls.
There is an overhead cable spanning the creek here, and Darrin, Mitch,
and Stephanie took turns swinging on it.
That led to some amazing photos that looked much more dangerous than
they really were.
I
avoided that spot, as I didn’t want to risk taking the dogs that close to the
brink of the falls. I was content with
taking photos of the falls from the base, both with people and without. Conditions were challenging due to the spray
and the rhododendrons blowing in the wind, but the results were still worth the
effort.
Everyone
eventually crossed the creek and continued up the trail along the left side of
the falls. The trail continued beyond
the top of the falls, so we decided to follow it. We were pretty sure it would provide an
easier route back to the car.
A
long run of switchbacks steered us away from the falls. We crested the top of the mountain, and
picked up an old road. At one point a
fork of the road led down towards the creek.
Spencer and Jack scouted it briefly before returning. We resumed the hike on the old road, which
led out to the road we had come in on.
We turned right on it, and immediately arrived at the crossing of
Dogwood Creek.
If
you want to hike to Pinnacle Falls and avoid the private property, the easiest
route is to follow the old road down from Chimneytop
Gap. You’ll cross Abner Creek and
Dogwood Creek. Just after Dogwood Creek,
turn left on an unmarked old road.
Follow it to the trail, which leads to the top of the falls and then the
base. Getting to the official overlook
from that point requires wading the creek and climbing
the bank on the opposite side.
Here
is Brenda’s GPS track showing our route:
http://brendajwiley.com/gps/pinnacle_falls.html
We
returned to our cars and drove up to Sassafras Mountain. The mountain was still fogged in, but some
folks had never been up there. We went
to the official overlook, which provided a nice view of a bank of fog. Then we followed a path up to the
summit. The top of Sassafras Mountain
was recently clearcut so that a summit observation
platform could be constructed.
Construction hasn’t started yet, and the summit is currently an ugly
mess. One of Spencer’s favorite
campsites used to be here, but now it is in the middle of the clearcut. Time will
tell, but I wonder if the overlook will be worth this level of destruction.
From
there, we returned to highway 178 and stopped at Bob’s Place / The Roadkill
Grill for a beer. We’ve passed Bob’s dozens of times over the years, and we’ve considered
stopping many times. Today we finally
did. It’s a cozy little place, with
friendly folks and cheap beer. The beer
selection is pretty lacking (Bud, Bud Lite, and Coors Lite), but I wasn’t
exactly expecting a selection of microbrews.
It was a little odd that they didn’t have PBR though, since there is a
giant PBR sign in the front yard. My
guess is that they decided to stop carrying it when it got popular with the
hipsters.
It
was 4pm when we left Bob’s. Jack and
Brenda headed for home, but the rest of us followed Spencer over to the Nine
Times Preserve to check out Big Rock Mountain.
Big Rock Mountain used to be private property, but was recently
purchased by Naturaland Trust. Big Rock Mountain is a spectacular jumble of
cliffs and boulders, featuring fine views of the mountains and the Piedmont of
South Carolina. I was looking forward to
checking it out. I had hiked in the Nine
Times Preserve nearby previously, but on that occasion Big Rock Mountain had
still been private property.
We
parked at the Cedar Rock Trailhead and crossed the road to a gated logging
road. The road was muddy, and led up
through an extensive logging operation.
It wound around for a while, before we reached a junction. The main road continued ahead, and slightly
downhill. We turned right to climb more
steeply towards the summit. That road
eventually faded away, and we scrambled off trail to a maze of cliffs and
boulders. We played around for a bit,
knowing that we could easily spend hours exploring there.
We
worked our way around the mountain, before eventually climbing to the
summit. We found a nice campsite there,
and a view of Table Rock through the trees.
At that point it was getting late.
Most of us followed the main road (which ends at the summit) down from
there. Spencer, Stephanie, and Dillon
decided to linger to do some additional exploring.
I
really enjoyed visiting with old friends and meeting new ones on Saturday. I’m looking forward to more fun adventures
with them!
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