A Guide to Adventure

Moonshine Falls Area (4 places!) Greenville, Cleveland, SC WILDCAT FALLS : You get two for the price of one here at the Wildcat Wayside State Park. Wildcat Falls are a very popular falls, largely because they are roadside on SC 11 (the Cherokee Scenic Highway). The first falls are in two sections with a 10-foot freefall upstream and the 20-foot cascade down a slab of exposed granite into a shallow pool. About 100 feet to the left of these falls are a number of steps that ascend to a quarter-mile trail to another falls. The trail crosses just above the 10-foot free-fall on a wooden bridge and snakes its way through the woods to a 130-foot waterslide. The photo below isolates the lower portion of the slide. Be prepared to do a little boulder-climbing to reach the base of the waterslide, but please don't attempt to climb the falls themselves. To get here : Stay on RT 276/11 west for about 5 miles past where RT 11 joins RT 276 and look for a pull off (unsigned) on the right (...

Going hiking in South Carolina during the middle a summer drought, might not sound too appealing to most people. To me, it just means finding a shorter hike with a rewarding destination at the end. Each of these hikes listed below are homegrown, under five miles, and many of them have very easy trails. They also have waterfalls, creeks, and lakes for a way to cool off after or during your hike. Well, what are you waiting for? Follow the trails all the way down to the number one hike on this list!  5. Rainbow Falls Trail-Jones Gap State Park  Marietta, SC The 3.9 mile trail can be somewhat difficult with inclines and lots of rocky paths, but the view of Rainbow Falls is so worth it. Consider camping overnight for even more adventure and more time for exploration. 4. Yellow Branch Falls- Oconee State Park- Walhalla, SC With a 3.5 mile loop to Yellow Branch Falls you can get a prime spot at the bottom of the falls. The view is not only breathtaking, but the...

Mid-June in South Carolina is HOT , and   humid , increasing the chance of pop up showers and thunderstorms. Tuesday afternoon was no exception to this, after leaving the falls to prepare for the storm that was rolling in over the mountains, we had plenty to do at camp before it rained. I was scavenging for firewood - the sites are pretty cleared out of the easily accessible wood - I could feel raindrops starting to fall, hearing thunder in the distance I brought Derek the small amount I gathered, and just as a cool breeze blew through the trees and 3 foot tree limb falls on Derek's head! It could have been much worse if the branch had more force, or landed in a different way, he was okay, startled by his near death experience we moved the tent over a few feet, away from the towering pines.  Since our campsite was only a short walking distance from our car, we had some extra pillows, a book I really wanted to finish reading, and a few luxury items. We also ...

On Memorial day of this year, Derek and I decided to make an impromptu trip to Brasstown Falls located in the Sumter National Forest in Oconee County, SC. It is a fairly easy drive, only an hour away from Anderson, and is pretty much a straight drive down country roads. Our adventure did not go well, the place was crowded, nowhere private to camp, and we carried too much stuff for the terrain we ended up on. Needless to say we were miserable, we decided to go home before the rain started, and that was the end of our day.  Now that it has been a few weeks since our terrible experience, we decided to go back to Brasstown falls to redeem ourselves. We were not going to let this place get the best of us. So Tuesday morning rolls around, and it is time to go. We load up the car, Rocky running around with excitement he is going for a ride, and we set off down the highway once again. We arrive at the falls around 11:00 am, and were very thrilled to see there was only one site tak...

So yesterday Derek and I were deciding where we wanted to spend our Memorial day off at. I posted saying that I would be going to an island on Lake Hartwell, well being that we are both so spontaneous we ended up going to Brasstown Falls in Oconee County, SC. That was our first mistake. We loaded up the car, filled up the tank, and headed down highway 24 West, and after an hour of passing huge farms, and scenic country roads we made it to highway 76. We followed that mountain road for almost 12 miles before we reached Brasstown Road. This is where the "adventure" would begin. The only directions my GPS offered was two miles down a gravel road that appeared to end. Other than that we were following the directions of another travel website that had pretty clear instructions. We start down the gravel road and pass a small road on our right, after all the GPS was still telling us to go, and our directions seemed to be aligned with that. We drove about three miles up the mount...