South Carolina has plenty to offer when it comes to beautiful scenery, especially inside the protected state and national parks that flow throughout the state from the Upstate to the coastline. Jones Gap and Caesars Head make up 11,000 acres of mountains, the parks are connected by miles of trails that wind along the Middle Saluda River. Jones Gap is also connected to the well known Foothills Trail.
I recently spent three days hiking the Jones Gap and Caesars Head trails, I want to share my experience at each park, the things I loved, and what I would have done differently to get the most out of the limited amount of time I had to spend there.
Jones Gap is located in Marietta, SC, just above Greenville and Travelers Rest. It is made up of eight separate trails that range from easy to strenuous. I went with a group of three other people, and we followed the Jones Gap Falls trail that is a 5.3 mile moderate hike up a rocky terrain that leads to beautiful primitive camping sites that are all located along the scenic river. The river comes from a natural spring in the mountains, it is refreshingly cold, and crystal clear, however you should never drink water without filtering or boiling it first, no matter how clean it appears. A few drops of water is not worth ruining an entire trip over, and you could end up in the hospital.
After a little over two miles we arrived at our campsite, and were beyond excited that we were overlooking the river, and had easy access to fire wood, and water. We immediately tied our dog to the safest spot; Rocky, our spoiled rotten chocolate lab loved the adventure, but was definitely the most exhausted out of all of us. After that we set up our tents for the first time, and began to gather firewood. we went down the to river that was flowing over huge rocks, creating breath taking rapids and small waterfalls. Trout fishing is very popular at Jones Gap, although only one of the members of our group decided to take part in that. Snakes were as common as squirrels in the park, so when wandering around always pay attention to what is beneath your feet, finding a good walking stick or having hiking poles help with that tremendously.
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Our first night we prepared a delicious freeze dried meal of chicken fried rice, made smores and hot cocoa. We called it a night after the sunset and were tucked away in our tents by 10:00 pm. It was the last week of April, and the night ended up being much colder than we planned. Luckily I have a tendency to over-pack, and had extra long johns and hoodies to keep us warm. (bring extra warm socks!) The next morning I woke up around 7:00 am, felt well rested, and was ready to start the day. It started with making a small fire, cooking oatmeal, instant coffee, and deciding what our plan was for the day. We explored further down the river, crossing the rocks that lead to a small waterfall. If walking on rocks watch out for the brown spots, they are really slippery and it does not take much to end up down river with serious injuries. Always keep your safety in mind, because if something goes wrong, you are at least 2 miles from any kind of help. Cell service was lost literally when we arrived to the park entrance. Hikers were few and far in between on the trail, partly because it was early in the week, instead of the busier weekend days.
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Two members of our group had to return to work on day three and would not be able to stay the night again, so Derek and I planned on heading to Caesars Head for the next two days. The original path was to hike the rest of the Jones Gap trail, and end up at Caesars Head, but we hadn't paid for an additional night, and needed to reserve a spot so backtracked the two miles back to the car, and drove the twenty minutes to Caesars Head.
Our arrival to the Caesars Head wilderness center was met with excitement, and uncertainty as we had no idea what the trail would hold, and what the park ranger told us next only intensified that uncertainty. Had we hiked from our campsite at Jones Gap to our new spot at Caesars Head it would have only been about a mile away from each other. Instead we had to start at the top of the trail, which is basically the top of the mountain, and hike almost three miles down the mountain. The next day we would have to hike back up the same way to get back to our car. The trail was much more strenuous than the Jones Gap trail, with steep root stairs, and a never ending trail that made us wonder if we should turn back and go home. At the time we were thinking to ourselves that we were lost and made a terrible mistake, we took one last turn and stumbled upon our campsite. We were ecstatic and could not wait to settle into camp. We were disappointed that our site wasn't directly on the river, and had to walk about a half mile to see it. From the lack of fire wood, and items past campers left surrounding our campsite, it is fair to say that Caesars Head side of the park gets more traffic than Jones Gap. Since we were at a lower altitude the weather was a lot kinder, with more sun exposure, and a much warmer night. The sun was nearly setting when we arrived at camp, so we didn't do much other than cook some ramen noodles and drink hot tea later on.
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| Derek and I leaving Jones Gap |
We retired early again after seeing a copperhead snake lurking in the logs surrounding our fire. We woke up with the sunrise on the third day, ready to see what all the park had to offer us. Again, after making coffee, and eating a light breakfast, we were packed and ready to explore. We found part of the river that opened up to a huge sliding rock that were able to walk across, and let our dog play in the water. There were breath taking pink flowers and butterflies that kept landing on my hands everywhere. The scenery and mountain air was well worth the difficult hike we faced the day before, and would face again later that day. We hiked a little over a mile to the last campsite, and river access we would see before hiking up the most strenuous part of the trail. We prepared our last freeze dried meal of chili mac, made sure our water bottles were full, and Rocky was fully hydrated. With our walking sticks in hand we headed up the mountain. The South Carolina heat can be unforgiving at times, and we made frequent stops to re-hydrate and cool off on the way up.
Once arriving to the car, we were overwhelmed with a feeling of gratitude for the air conditioning we would soon be in, and also sadness that our adventure was over, with so much left unseen, we are eager to visit the park again.
Some thing I would do differently is to pay ahead and reserve all the spots we planned to stay at, we were able to get a refund for the day we decided not to stay. I also plan to buy a water purifier, a life straw is the best option, but there are many different types to choose from. Once we depleted our water bottles we had to boil water just in case, it took up a lot of time, and fire water doesn't really taste that good. The freeze dried meals are beneficial and really did taste great, they are light weight and only take a few cups of hot water to prepare.
Looking back on the trip, I would spend more time at Jones Gap discovering Rainbow Falls and the moderate terrain it offered.
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| Middle Saluda River |
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