Ramsey Creek and the Chauga River

Day four  (my second day in camp)....after that great breakfast of grits, mixed berries and a pan toasted Everything Bagel, I was ready to tackle the world, or at the very least the playing possum picnic table!

I managed after a major wrestling match to flip it back over still no seats attached..that's a warning to the next camper to NOT sit on this table!

Headed back through the town of Westminster where the Memorial Day tribute was still in place, It was a very nice small town display, loved this I circled the block so I could get a photo...

back through the wine country...where some new vines have been planted...

To Chau-Ram park! The Chauga River and Ramsey Creek come together here...

Ramsey Creek has a nice falls too!

The Ramsey empties into the Chauga River its just around the bend...

and spanning it is the "longest suspension bridge in Oconee County!!

Nearby was this cool Louisiana Waterthrush, bobbing his tail and checking for something to eat!

some areas were very calm...

and others were NOT...

this mountain laurel is growing out of a rock! 

 ...when I snapped this I thought it was one, so surprised when I put it on the screen and saw two!!  I believe these are painted turtles...

Then it was a picnic lunch from the shelter by the falls...

then back to site 59 after a stop for some ice cream at this road side stop! The guy who served me gave me that look when I asked if they any non-dairy ice cream...so I Blessed the cow that gave the milk and ordered up mint chocolate chip...that guy reminded me of
Charles Manson..in the early years~I was bigger and probably out weighted the guy by at 40 lbs so I wasn't scared...intimated yes, scared NO! Although I did leave my pig sticker, mace, and 2 vicious attack dogs,  in the van when I went for the Refreshment..LMBO.

yes the windshield is cracked and the  SC state trooper who pulled me and gave me a warning ticket said

"FIX IT" ---dang!

another day in paradise, more to come!

PEACE

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

The Raven Cliff Falls Hike

This was a memorable day for me, because Ive been wanting to hike this trail for a long time.  I actually went to hike it a couple years ago and -DUH- got on the wrong trail, I hiked nearly to Jones Gap before I realized I was going the wrong way-- right trail, wrong direction--so finally I got my wish to see the Raven Cliff Falls!  Somewhere along the trail  I got this view of Lake Jocassee

It is located at Caesars Head State Park in Upstate SC   There are over 50 miles of hiking trails from easy to strenuous in this park.  The elevation of the park is around 3,200 ft.  The trail starts at 3,000 ft and drops to 2,000 so the way back was hard in spots...

view of Caesar's rock

Once I got to the park I had to go check out the view of the area..and the color was almost at peek one more week it will be awesome. 

Ceasars Head over 7,000 acres

Here's where I messed up last time...the trail head for Raven Cliff Falls starts across the road, somehow that completely escaped me last time & I got on the Foothills trail behind where my car is parked in this shot, but this time I DID cross the road--

There is 3 trailheads that you can access from this lot...
You have to register yourself in this little box, write who you are where you are hiking to and when you expect to be back and a number to contact if you dont show up! AND it cost $2 to hike.

This trail is part of the Foothills trail which is a 76 mile backpacking or section hiking trail with access in various places .The sections I did was the Raven Cliff Falls Trail, the Gum Gap Trail, and the Natureland Trust Trail, which is 6.6 miles round trip. 

from All Trails web site

For the most part the trail was easy...but then the elevation drops and thats ok going out but coming back ohhhh it hurts.  Saw some great color in the forest and Im always on Lookout for odd things..like this tree with a Keyhole-

 I hiked down the Raven Cliff at 1.4 miles it interesects the Gum Gap trail but take the side trail to left for the view platform thats 0.8 mi away.  From there you can view the falls across the Gap as its called here in the east, out west it would be a canyon!  MY photos  were lost due to Flickr, so this is the only one I have left of my Raven Falls full length photos...I had made it into a poster effect for a calendar I had planned to make good thing I had this one. 

The View of the falls is awesome although distant. You need a good zoom to get any kind of a shot..my kodak has a 24 x zoom so it did pretty good...although I like the far off shots best cause it encompasses the Fall display...some trees were already bare of leaves I see.

The falls is a 420 ft drop altogether.  The Dismal Trail which is very strenous takes one down to the lower part of the falls, I did NOT take that trail, I had a quick lunch break here on the platform and visited with other hikers...

the lower falls section

I had not decided at this point whether I would hike to the suspension bridge which is the sturcture you can see in the first 2 shots of the falls, look closely..it looks like a plank going across so I backtracked to the intersection of the Gum Gap trail and decided to go for it...I hiked another 1.1 miles to the suspension bridge...this fellow was on it when I arrived so I gave him his time alone, sort of...

Well after I totally invaded his privacy and took his photo (and a video of him)..lol I ventured up onto the bridge to see for myself...

The view was KILLER..awesome, and the bridge was quite stable since its not that long...Ive been on "swinging" bridges that made me air sick...like the Royal Gorge....whew.

I was told by one of the other hikers to NOT take the trail beyond the bridge...its so steep you have to hang onto a rope to climb down...( i have a feeling that is where the DISMAL trail ends up)..SO I took that advice went over had a look and then came back down.  The bridge is positioned just at the precipice of the top portion of the falls (which is sort of a cascade but not)  behind it is this smaller cascade...

     I enjoyed this part of the falls too it was nice.  I took this short video..

Then it was time to hike back to the car...and I was beat so I stopped to rest on this really interesting log,



I had an awesome day...I got on the trail at 11 am and got back to my car at 4:30 so it was an entire day but well worth it...and now I can mark off page 260 of my Waterfall Hikes of Upstate SC--which is an ongoing project of mine. 

On the way home these great clouds moved in and gave me a nice end to my day...

Upstate Trip...

Today I drove 150 miles north to my sister's for dog sitting again! It was a beautiful day for traveling--and I saw many campers on the road of every size, and kind! This one caught me by surprise when I came up behind it, At fist its hard to see the small car towing it! You can see by the road sign this was about an hr away from my destination, traveling on I-26 West.

On my last trip up here I purchased a book called WaterFall Hikes of Upstate SC by Thomas E. King. I thought it would be fun to try and see as many of these waterfalls as I can when I'm in the vicinity of one..so last time I marked off Twin Falls on page 194, and today I marked off Cedar Shoals on the Reedy River, page 216.

 I tried to find the Pelham Falls in Pelham..but unfortunately, urban sprawl has made the directions in the book, null n void, so Ill try again tomorrow...when its not rush hr and I can stop and make u-turns and all that other annoying stuff that we out of towners do...lol --I have visited many other waterfalls while in the upstate, so I have to go through the book and cross them off...This one was easy it was right off the highway..but it was on PRIVATE property so I didnt go down to the waters edge..BUT I was tempted!!

When I looked closely at this photo I saw the turtle family sunning on the rock in front of the little step fall there...what a neat place to live eh?

Another one visited!

Pickens County WaterFall

Thursday I drove upstate to Greenville to dog sit for my Sis thru Sunday morning...so Friday I enjoyed a day trip up to Pickens County to hike to the Twin Falls- It was a bit too hot to hike but if I wait for the weather to be good I wont be going any time soon..its not as hot here as back at home.'

Keep your eyes on the trail

there is always a bright spot in the woods!

this is what that phrase between a rock and a hard place means

This rock reminds me of Stonehenge...well sort of..

IT was such a thick forest but the stream followed the trail so it was easy to cool off just get close to the water!!

The water was really cool..and shallow so easy to spash in

Then I arrived at the water fall it was super!!! I had the whole place to myself for a while...but soon a few straggled in this waterfall is off the beaten path, but not a hard or long hike.

But I wanted to get closer so I hiked up the rocks to the base of the falls...got that nice cool mist on me, felt great!!

Out on the rock I found all these Yellow Swallowtails sipping water!! Bet it taste nice and Fresh..

I took a ga-zillion photos..and these are my favorites made in slideshow!

IN Search of Waterfalls-

Yesterday we took a drive up to the Pisgah National Forest in NC. Its not that far in miles, but we took the scenic route and stopped alot to see things and I enjoyed stopping at this great Junk shop...the American Pickers got nothing on me...I know a bargain when I find one..lol this was a great stop I enjoyed browsing the stuff while Indy snoozed in the shade outside--

I made a couple of purchases and Ill save that for another time...cause our main objective here was to hike and to see some waterfalls...BUT along the way we had to stop and snap a shot of this lovely barn setting...

we saw 3 different waterfalls...this first one, I totally didnt find out the name of...it was next to this lady who was selling fresh boiled p-nuts from a little road side stand, sorry didnt get a photo of her-and I didnt ask the name of the waterfall--grr.

We traveled on and found this one....it's right on the road (hwy 276)
There were a lot of steps so I left Indy in the shade again and I went to take some photos...I didnt take my time as I had planned and the lighting is always tricky on brightly lit waterfalls...so this is not what I wanted but it will have to do! This is Looking Glass Falls..

after viewing this one we stopped at a quiet picnic table for a snack and then headed on...parked and took a mile hike to get to the next waterfalls at Moores Cove--my camera had a smudge right in the middle....

IT was an easy hike and Indy did really well even tho she has poor back leg strength...

We took our time and I didnt rush her and she stopped often to....

COOL OFF-lol she really loves the water...

The waterfall was quite spectacular and there were other visitors around..we enjoyed a rest before heading back.

Indy is a fun travel companion because she never complains, she makes the best of every situation!

Today I plan to take my bike over to the duck pond for a ride and to see how the ducks n geese are doing...Indy is gonna stay home today, Ill take her for a walk around the block...rest day for her!!