Long Creek Falls, Oconee County

Another fabulous day of hiking took us to Long Creek Falls near Westminster SC. Long Creek flows into the Chattooga River, after plummeting 50 feet over beautiful cascading falls. This 3.2 mile round trip trek is a moderate hike with an arduous descent to the river, but is certainly worth the trip. The changing leaves added to the beauty along the trail, making this a perfect fall hiking day. Some of us ended the day with some great Mexican food, thank you Jerry!

Lee Falls, Oconee County

We are back in action for fall hiking. After several months of a summer sabbatical, we went to Lee Falls, for the first hike of the fall. It was a great afternoon with perfect weather. The recent rains made part of the trail a bit slippery, but also created a nice flow of water over the falls. I would love to label each picture, but in the interest of time, and getting the pictures on the blog, I'll keep it short. What a fabulous day!

DuPont State Forest, North Carolina

What a beautiful day! Our Sunday trek was to the DuPont State Forest in North Carolina. The 10,400 acre DuPont State Forest is located in Henderson and Transylvania Counties between the towns of Hendersonville and Brevard. We had never been to DuPont but had heard how beautiful it is. After today, we will certainly be visiting again. There are miles and miles of hiking, biking and riding trails through out the forest. Maps can be downloaded from the link, along with a difficulty guide for the trails. We parked at the Hooker Falls parking lot, and hiked from there, but there are several access points through out the forest. We visited 3 of the most popular waterfalls, but of course, with over 10,000 acres, only visited a small portion of what DuPont has to offer.

Hooker Falls. If you have seen the movie The Last of the Mohicans, you have seen Hooker Falls. At only 14 feet, what it lacks in height, the width and volume account for, making this a spectacular waterfall.

Next, we traveled upstream to Triple Falls. This is a three level drop totaling about 100 feet. Large shelves of rocks along the Little River make viewing the waterfall easy. This also provides a popular destination for sunbathers and waders. We veered off the main trail, to follow well traveled paths that led us along the river and across the rocks for fabulous views of the falls.

You can see from the size of Mark & Kevin standing in front of the middle portion of the falls, just how impressive this waterfall is. A long section of stairs leads down to the middle portion of the falls.

My partners were intent on climbing to the top of the falls via the rocks along the side, instead of back up the stairs we came down. Not wanting to be outdone, I made sure to go first, knowing they were behind to cushion my fall...just in case. Of note, at no time did we get near the rushing water or wet slippery rocks. I can't say enough about safety when visiting waterfalls.

The view from the top of Triple Falls.

Triple Falls from the viewing area along the main trail. As with Hooker Falls, Triple Falls was also featured in the movie The Last of the Mohicans.

Our hike continued along through the forest toward High Falls. Along the way, we were able to enjoy the beauty of the forest. The trails are all well marked and easy to follow.
Appalachian bluet Houstonia serpyllifolia

Beautiful horses, their riders, and their horseback riding dog.

Yellowroot Xanthorhiza simplicissima. These tiny beautiful flowers are easily missed. Yellowroot blooms are primarily green when young and in shaded areas, turning a purple-brown color in the sun and as they mature.

While sitting on rocks along the river, this crayfish decided "toes" might make a nice meal...we thought differently.

Horse sugar

Symplocos tinctoria

Six spotted tiger beetle...I didn't see any spots, but this was one of the most vibrant insects I have ever seen!

High Falls. At 100 ft, this was the tallest of all the falls, and absolutely beautiful. You can see the edge of a covered bridge at the top of the falls (right), and if you look closely at the top left of the falls, you can see the bright red shirt of someone sitting on a rock beside the falls. Unfortunately, I have limited pictures of this waterfall, because there is primarily only one angle to photograph from, looking straight at the waterfall.

Little River. This view is looking up stream from the covered bridge. It is hard to imagine just after this calm river flows under the covered bridge, it plunges 100 feet forming High Falls.

This was a fabulous day of hiking, and the waterfalls were amazing. When we returned to the parking lot, there were so many people visiting they were parking along the sides of the road. While well worth the trip, this is a popular destination. If you are looking for solitude, this is not the place, at least not in warm weather, unless you plan on visiting on a weekday.