Mark's Photo Travels

Last August I visited the Blue Wall Preserve , located just west of Lake Lanier in northeast Greenville County, to explore the preserve and its two waterfalls. The Blue Wall Passage of the Palmetto Trail runs from the Foothills Equestrian Nature Center (FENCE) in Polk County, North Carolina to Vaughns Gap, Greenville County, South Carolina. At Vaughns Gap, the Palmetto Trail transitions to the Poinsett Reservoir Passage that continues on to the Orchard Lake Campground in Henderson County, North Carolina. Last year, my visit to the Blue Wall Preserve inspired me to make another trip here to hike this section of the Palmetto Trail up to Vaughns Gap. I wanted to do that last year, but for whatever reason it didn't happen. Last Friday was cloudy with a few sprinkles and a breezy north to north east wind. Not a perfect day for a hike, but plenty good enough. The parking area for this section of the Palmetto Trail is the same as the one for the Blue Wall Preserve. The distance ...

Soon I'll be leading a hike up to the observation tower on Sassafras Mountain on the Foothills Trail (weather permitting of course!). I haven't hiked this section of the Foothills Trail before, and I wanted to see what it's like on my own before I lead the group hike. I also wanted to see Beech Bottom Falls, formerly known as Pinnacle Falls, while I was there. That waterfall is down a different trail I had visited in 2015. A new trail was opened in the summer of 2018, the waterfall renamed at the same time, and the old trail has been abandoned. I parked at the Chimneytop Gap parking access area, off U.S. 178 seven miles north of the intersection with S.C. 11. I thought too many cars were parked here to all be individual hikers. I figured it had to be some sort of a meetup. I also figured they were probably headed up Sassafras Mountain. But for now, I'm more interested in what's down Beech Bottom Falls Trail. Beech Bottom Falls Trail The bat roost I saw in...