Mark's Photo Travels

I've been on a number of waterfall hikes since Thanksgiving, mostly with Meetup groups. Since I don't take many photos when hiking with the Meetup groups, these hikes weren't really worth a post on their own. I did post a few photos to my Instagram account, but if you don't happen to Instagram then these hikes will be news to you. I'll summarize the visits below. Wildcat Wayside On December 11th, I led a small group to Wildcat Wayside , a roadside wayside park located by US 276/SC 11 near Cleveland, South Carolina. First we hiked a trail to visit Lower, Middle, and Upper Wildcat Falls on Wildcat Creek. Then we went down to a trail by Slickum Creek to visit Last Falls on Slickum and Sweet Thing on Slickum. As a bonus, I then led them past a parking area where US 276/SC 11 split to a bushwack up to Spider Tunnel Falls , the top of which is visible from US 276 during the winter. My photos from this trip are in the album Wildcat Wayside and More - Dec 20...

Usually when one hikes up the strenuous  Falls Creek Trail near River Falls in northern Greenville County it's to see Falls Creek Falls , a must visit waterfall in Jones Gap State Park. I've been there a number of times, and it's always a pleasure to visit, except for the difficulty making the climb. This time I came to hike Falls Creek Trail to visit a number of rarely visited smaller waterfalls, the last one being Chute Falls, all reachable by spur paths from the main trail. The parking area, just beyond Palmetto Bible Camp, has room for only two or three cars, but a limited amount of space is available off one side the road for a few more cars. Before heading up the trail, I had to visit the dam for Trammel Lake. While not a waterfall, the stone dam does make for a good photo when the water is flowing nicely. The trail by kiosk is one of the easiest parts of the trail. The entire trail, except near Falls Creek Falls, once was a logging road. This is the...

On Sunday, the remnants of Hurricane Florence passed through the area, dumping a few inches of rain and some gusty breezes. The next day was cloudy, especially where in the mountains where I needed it to be, making it a perfect day to explore some normally low flow waterfalls at their best. I chose to visit Misty Falls, Evans Falls, and Mashbox Falls, three waterfalls clustered near each other near the portion of U.S. 276 that ascends Caesars Head Mountain. I parked at a pull-off within a short distance ahead of the intersection of U.S. 276 and old Oil Camp Creek Road. I got my gear, and walked down the side of the road to the intersection. An old fading stop sign remains from years past. Another parking area is located a few hundred feet down old Oil Camp Creek Road: A green gate prevents vehicles from passing through overgrowth would do that job just fine even if the gate was open. Some areas were so overgrown I almost thought I was bushwacking: I continued...