Brasstown Falls Hike

I know 3 blogs in 3 days--and IM working but I want to get caught up while I have some time this morning-  SO last week I drove back upstate to Greer to work in my sisters cutting room...here's a photo of it so you can see what Im doing (for the inquiring minds out there)

See what I do is sometimes I cut fat quarters then fold 'em up add the label and put in bins that will go to the quilt shows to be sold---othertimes I dont have to cut them they send them to me at home already cut and I fold them here..but they have fallen behind so I went up and cut about 1400 of these 18 x 21 inch fat quarter's Needless to say I was exhausted!! But they have a nice cutting room with lots of great natural light, carpeted floor, cable tv, and satellite radio--SO what more could I want?  Well I'd love to have this quilting machine at my house!!


SO anyways once the work was done I headed out on Saturday Morning (12th of March) to complete another waterfall hike.  I had to drive about an 1.15 hrs to get to the location but on the way I had to stop a few times to take photos!  Im the Queen of the U-Turn!
The SC National Heritage Corridor runs through this area in the western and upper sections of our state.  Highway 11 the Cherokee Scenic Highway combines with the corridor and makes for an excellent drive that stretches from Charleston following the Savannah River to Gafney a Mountain town...Ive driven the entire northern section now Ive got to drive the GA border section.  The highway goes through 17 counties of the state and covers 240 miles!  BUT on this trip my main reason for heading up to the Sumter National Forest was to hike to Brasstown Falls! We had terrific rains on the Thrusday before (10th of March) so the water was Excellent!

The Brasstown Creek creates these wonderful cascades 4 of them and then a Veil and a Sluice --for over 120 feet of falling water in 5 sections with the upper section standing alone a 40 ft cascade.  This is on pages 42-46 of my Waterfall Hikes of SC by Thomas E King an ongoing photography/hiking project for me. 




The upper section of the falls is this 40 ft cascade called  the Little Brasstown its a beautiful spot to sit and play the banjo--lol I ran into other hikers and adventurers as I normally do where ever I go...before you know it Im part of a group--

Sorry  bout the curse word at the end--it wasnt me-- another hiker who sunk into the mud while trying to cross the creek--lol

In order to get to the little Brasstown you have to cross the creek...It was kinda muddy on the bottom and so along with some  ladies we built our very own log crossing--I didnt get any names but they were fun ladies to share a part of my hike with....

The upper section of the falls is beautiful and swift--its a part of 3 sucessive cascades that fall about 50 feet altogether with a flat table and pool area between each...

  

 Then the creek heads down to drop over the middle section another cascade.. The trail here gets steeper and is filled with the roots! In some cases these make good steps and in some cases they trip you and they create obstacles!  The ground was slick due to the recent rain  this hikes starts out as Easy then goes to Difficult as the creek tumbles on down...two more cascade to go....

Here is the Middle Cascade -

Then the creek drops to make the thrid Lower cascade--

rainbows i think

NOW the trail is really getting steep and slippery and I catch up with the fly fishermen who have staked out their catch, Im tempted to speak to them about catch n release but they are big burly and southern so I decided to say a "native blessing" of thanks over the fish and go on...but asa I arrive  they left! lol

The "trail" to the last 2 falls is quite steep and hard!  I slipped and got a nice bruise for my trouble --in some spots I had to grab exposed roots to use for pulls ups!! There is no developed trail to these waterfalls....you just pick the route you see as best..

SO i got to enjoy the lower cascade alone--it was quite beautiful.

BUT it was Worth it...here is the brink of the veil I have to hike around and then down for a better view..

I finally made it down to face the veil head on...the mist from this 35 foot falls was very refreshing...and I got some spots on my lens--what a special place--



After enjoying the veil for a while I head DOWN yet another steep rooted climb to the sluice and final section of the Brasstown Falls...you can see the veil just at the top of this shot..the pool under the sluice is swim at your own risk..but its not deep--I can see a large log has been jammed in the sluice--

I know this is a long post....thank you for sticking to the end...this is such a special place I can barely do it justice...