First Waterfall Hike 2014

I did one waterfall hike so far this yr. It wasnt exactly a bust, but it was close...I will explain.

The trail I picked was part of the Foothills Trial the Sloan Bridge section.  There was 2 falls on this section so great check 2 off the list.  I knew I had to take both dogs and was a little leery because of the injuries I know how the dogs can get sometimes...but Flossie is pretty good off leash and thats what I decided to do. 

Annie is the one who likes to run off into the thick stuff and she can disappear so fast....so she has to stay on leash on a steep narrow trail like this one was..

                            

This is exactly the kind of trail I dont like...narrow. lots of roots, and lots of blow-downs! SO visibility is not so good and its hard since bushwhacking could mean a broken ankle trying to get down the edge of the Chattooga River below. Check out this large tree that was on the trail...

Got a peek through the bushes at the second tier of the falls Sloan Bridge, it has an upper drop I couldnt see....I could only hear those and didnt get a look...if I hadnt had the dogs I may have gone down and waded up the river to find it but with them and Annie on leash it was not possible.

The second falls is a 30 ft tiered falls called Hikers Peril, the trail used to cross the top of the falls but with so much blow down around the trail was moved to the bottom of the falls....and since the trail passes right in front of the falls on a little foot bridge, I couldn't back up and shoot the entire thing! SO I did a couple section shots, the water level was low on this falls which surprised me since we've had so much rain, upstate maybe they didn't have as much as we've had  in my local area..

Its always good to be in the woods no matter! It was 2 miles round trip...The weather was awesome for sure.

So after we hiked we stopped at the fish hatchery that we passed on the way up...There's fish in various stages of development in the swim ways...I think these are brown trout. They sure were crowded in there!!

Dont ask me why I got only part of this sign...I was distracted by the dogs I guess..Its the Wahalla State Fish Hatchery...the road down is a thrilling hairpin drive! Narrow, and steep!! The building is in the "holler" as they call it here in Utah its a canyon, in Texas its a gulch, in Tennessee its a Gulf...so anyways its at the bottom!!

Next time I'll show some of the birds we spotted...Maggie hates car trips something they are working on, but so far unless its a trip to the vet or to come to our house she stays home...

So now that makes 35 SC Waterfalls I've hiked in the Upstate Region. Many of the remaining ones are on private land so I dont know If make it to those...but now Im down to the Difficult hard ones, and a few roadside ones...it will be fun to find them. 

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.