The Jocassee Gorge is a 33 mile section of the Foothills Trail.
Half-hitch, Muskrat, and I just spent 4 glorious days backpacking this section.
Backpacker Magazine describes this trail like this.
The trail skirts the outstretched arms of Lake Jocassee and vaults four rivers on superbly engineered bridges, including a 225-foot steel suspension bridge over Toxaway River.
Hemmed in by the lake and the Blue Wall, the trail crosses nary a paved road for 34 miles through here.
It hits rushing creeks, big waterfalls, and a perfect swimming hole.
Along Laurel Fork Creek giant virgin hemlocks tower over dense beds of rare Oconee Bells flowers, which grow only in Georgia and the Carolinas.
We started at the Bad Creek parking lot, on the left hand side of this map and followed the red line across the North Carolina border, around the lake and ended at the "You are HERE" point.
Day 1- we went 6 miles to camp at Hilliard Falls.
Whitewater River-
We climbed a lot of these.
Half-hitch and Muskrat in front of Hilliard Falls
Swampfox and full view of the waterfall
Breakfast by the falls
Muskrat spotted this guy when he moved in the leaves. In the morning light, I couldn't see it even when he was pointing to it.
Hammock picture just below the falls. I had natures own sleep machine.
Day 2- We went 12 miles to the Toxaway River on Lake Jocassee. That was hard.
Lake Jocassee is full and beautiful. This is at Canebreak.
Toxaway River Bridge
There are a lot of nice campsites at the Toxaway River on the tip of Lake Jocassee.
I suggest you pass them up and take the very last one to have this view from your hammock.
You'll recognize it by the bench put together with lashings.
Day 3-Muskrat headed north to Frozen Lake Access in Gorges State Park and Half-hitch and I continued on over Heartbreak Hill to the Laurel Fork Waterfall 6 miles away. We camped at a beautiful campsite at the top of the waterfall.
I have never seen so much water going over this waterfall. It was awesome!
We camped at the top of the waterfall. My Blackbird was 15 feet from the edge.
You're allowed a luxury item. Knowing we would be on Lake Jocassee for two days, I chose a float. I think it was a good call. I needed this.
Day 4- Went 8 miles to the Laurel Valley Access point on Hwy 178 and we were done.
On the way, we had lunch at the Virginia Hawkins Waterfall. Great place for a break.
Check out the craftsmanship of this bridge. It looks like something built by Hobbits.
I've heard it said that snakes see you first and you never see them. They never met this guy. He was in the middle of the trail and he did not want to leave. I tried to scare him and he just started toward me. I had to hook him with my hiking pole and fling him out of the way.
With this hike completed, all three of us have hiked the entire 76 mile Foothills Trail
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks