Sassafras Mountain and More

July is well known for being hot and humid around here, but this last week featured a welcome break from both. This presented a great opportunity to go outside and explore somewhere! I haven't really explored the area around Sassafras Mountain lately, and a new observation deck recently opened up there, so last Wednesday I traveled up F. Van Clayton Memorial Highway (off US 178 in Rocky Bottom) to the parking area near the top of the mountain.

The weather report from the top of Sassafras Mountain was as good as it gets in late July:

I had expected the parking area to be near empty, but it would seem others had the same idea I did:

I figured most of these people were probably at the observation tower, so I decided to wait until later to visit. I wanted to head over to Roundtop Mountain, and that would take me down the Foothills Trail to the Palmetto Trail.

I passed by the turn off to the Palmetto Trail to visit the John L. Cantrell homesite a short distance down from the intersection. All that's left of the home are a few stones. The campsite is rather large with a nice firepit:

I headed back up to where the Palmetto Trail turns off and followed it heading downhill. I wanted to visit an unnamed creek between Rock Mountain and Roundtop Mountain. I already knew the creek had some recently documented waterfalls, and I believed I spotted another one from looking at a USGS topo map. I had marked the top of the waterfall's location on my waterfall map and updated a copy of the map on my phone.

I didn't have much trouble reaching the top of the waterfall from the trail.

Reaching the base was much more difficult. I had considerable trouble finding a way down through the many rhododendrons. After a few false starts, I finally found a way down to the base, only to find the base covered with rhododendrons. There would be no good photo opportunities here! I made my way up the right side of the waterfall just above the rhododendrons.

I crawled out to the middle of the waterfall to take some photos, but the rocks were rather slippery and I ended up sliding down the waterfall. I caught myself on a rhododendron branch before I reached to bottom, and managed to crawl back up to where I had left my backpack. I took a few photos from an odd angle, but I think the video better shows off this minor waterfall:

Finding a waterfall is always a thrill, but this one is definitely not worth a repeat visit.

I made my way back up to the Palmetto Trail and then down to the Carolina Hemlock Loop Trail.

The loop trail heads uphill then

As the trail started descending down from the mountain, I bushwacked a short distance up to an unofficial trail used by the Greenville Natural Hiking Association that mostly follows the ridge line (see the map of my GPX trace below). I followed the orange flag markers to this overlook:

The overlook is on a cliff, so if you do visit this spot please be careful! One wrong move and you may just might become one with the Earth:

I went back to the official trail and followed it down some switch backs to where it rejoins the Palmetto Trail.

I followed the Palmetto Trail downhill until I reached this impressive view of Rock Mountain.

I had wanted to visit an overlook on Rock Mountain, but I figured it wouldn't have time to visit both Rock Mountain and the observation tower before it got dark. I headed back up the trail to the parking area. Coming here was downhill almost all of the way, so unfortunately now it was uphill almost all of the way. The parts of the the Palmetto Trail that ascended rather steeply I made sure to take it slow and stop every few minutes. As the trail neared the Foothills Trail, the ground became somewhat level letting me speed up and stop much less often.

The parking area had thinned out considerably when I reached it shortly before sundown. I walked up the concrete path leading to the summit.

The observation tower sits on the summit divided by the North Carolina-South Carolina border. A black stripe shows exactly where the boundary is.

and a compass helping visitors to orient themselves.

The view is outstanding!

I took a few panoramas that turned out rather well.

I also noticed a weather station that wasn't here the last time I visited:

Weather data from this station is available from www.nc-climate.ncsu.edu/?station=sass or if on mobile www.nc-climate.ncsu.edu/m/?station=sass.

I was disappointed I didn't have time to visit Rock Mountain, but there is of course next time. But I did see some excellent views from Roundtop Mountain, the Palmetto Trail, and the new Sassafras Mountain observation tower.

I made a map of my GPX trace:

See full screen

I also posted my trip photos to the photo album Sassafras Mountain and More - July 2019 at Google Photos.