Trip Report & Pics; Keowee-Toxaway State Park, SC

“Keowee-Toxaway State Park - Raven Rock/Natural Bridge Loop
Plus a stop at Twin Falls on the way back
Pickens County, SC
Dayhike Report - SCJack & Pressly
Sunday, November 9th, 2003

Directions to Keowee-Toxaway State Park: From the intersection of Hwy11 & SC133, head west on Hwy11 for about 0.1 miles. Park office is to the left (south of Hwy 11); trailheads are to the right (north of Hwy11)

Pressly arrived at the meeting house / parking area / trailhead a little before 10:00am and we hit the trail right at 10:00am. The weather was perfect, a little cooler than it has been, but with the sun shining brightly I was comfortable with shorts & t-shirt. My jacket & sweat pants never left my backpack.

The Natural Bridge trail starts out as an easy walk through the woods. For the first half-mile, the sounds from Hwy11 are very noticeable. Fortunately the sounds of Poe Creek start to drown out the noise from Hwy11 as the trail passes over Natural Bridge. The creek actually flows completely underground making for the easiest creek crossing ever! Once across Natural Bridge you can see Poe Creek cascading out from the rocky cave.

Shortly past Natural Bridge, the trail splits. For a shorter hike, the Natural Bridge Loop heads off to the left making a 1.5-mile loop. We went off to the right to continue on with the Raven Rock Loop.

While elevation changes along the trail are no more than 400-ft, there are virtually no level sections along the trail. It climbs & descends & climbs & descends & climbs, etc….. The first climb past Poe creek is fairly moderate as the trail climbs past and around some large boulders. There is not much to see along this section of trail, just rocks and trees.

Soon the trail begins a very steep descent, and the leaves covering the trail did not make it any easier. Through the trees, you can start to see glimpses of Lake Keowee, but no real viewing areas until you get down to a real nice primitive camping area along the edge of the lake. The lake is absolutely beautiful; a finely manicured golf course can be seen on the opposite shoreline.

Past the campsites the trail starts another steep climb. A fabulous, more elevated view of Lake Keowee can be found on this section of trail. After the short, but very steep climb the trail levels off in an open forest area. This is where Pressly and I lost our way.

Up to this point the trails were fairly well blazed, and easy to follow. Some of the blue blazes may have been a little faded, but it was always obvious which way the trail went. That is, until now! With the widely spaced trees in this section of open forest, and several inches of dead leaves on the ground we lost the trail, and for some reason the blazing was very poor in this area. We backtracked to the last blaze and tried again. Same results, this time we wandered a little further into the forest before giving up and backtracking again. On the third try, we finally found the right trail.

Continuing on, the trail begins a very steep descent to the banks of Poe Creek. The trail parallels the creek for a while with several real nice cascades before joining back up with the Natural Bridge Trail and crossing the creek.

After another short, but steep climb the noise from Hwy11 became evident again and we knew the trailhead was near. After about 2.5 hours of hiking we arrived back at our cars.

Overall, an excellent dayhike. The weather was perfect, and as always Pressly is great company. Total distance of this loop is listed at 4.5 miles. With our getting lost and backtracking we probably made it 5.0 miles. We saw absolutely no one on the trails, and ours were the only cars in the parking area at the start and end of the hike. I was very surprised that there weren’t more people out enjoying this wonderful day. I liked these trails and would recommend them, but I wouldn’t put them at the top of the list.

Difficulty Rating = 6.0/10
Trail Quality & Enjoyment = 7.0/10





It was still early in the day, so I decided to hit Twin Falls on the way back.

Directions to Twin Falls: From the intersection or Hwy11 and US 178, drive north on US 178 for approximately 4 miles. Turn Left on Cleo Chapman Road (immediately before Bob's Place Tavern). After about 2 miles, turn right onto Eastatoe Community Road. About 1 mile, turn right onto Waterfalls Road (this is a narrow dirt/gravel road). Continue on this road following the signs to "the falls", until it ends at the parking area. The trail starts beyond the gate at the end of the parking area.

I you haven’t visited Twin Falls I would recommend putting it on your “must see waterfall list”.

A short and very easy 1/4-mile hike leads you to the overlook shelter where you get a great view of one of South Carolinas finest waterfalls. The trail follows the Reedy Cove Creek the whole way with several nice cascades. Getting closer to the falls is a neat section of the creek that slides down a rock slope for a good ways.

The twins are not identical as the one on the left drops straight down from its 75-ft perch, while the one on the right, after a much shorter drop, slides down the rocks at about a 45-degree slope.

On this trip, I wanted to get to the top of the falls. The water level was much lower than my last visit here, making the slick rocks at the base of the falls far less treacherous. As you near the base of the left side twin, you can see a trail going up to the side. This is a very steep trail, but the many tree roots make the climbing not too difficult. The trail takes you to a rock ledge, which forms the top of the Falls.

DO NOT GET TOO CLOSE TO THE EDGE!!!! A Fall from here would most certainly be fatal!

Walking upstream a bit from the top of the falls, the creek is filled with old and twisted railroad rails. Anyone know where they came from, or how they got there?

I returned back to the base of the falls, took a few more pictures, and hiked back to my car.

Twin Falls:
Difficulty Rating = 1/10 (up to the overlook shelter)
Waterfall Rating = 10/10


Pictures from are posted here:

http://community.webshots.com/album/99181187SwHpYj?650

SCJack”

“Twin Falls is PIMP!!!!!


Great report!!!!


8)”