Foothills Camping Trip

Recently my friends Shane and John have been bit by the backpacking bug. Our group conversations have been comparisons of all their new gear and gadgets making life in the wild a lot more bearable. I knew it was only a matter of time before they started working on luring me into some overnight trips with them despite my well documented love of sleeping in my soft bed in front of a box fan. At first it was car camping on Unaka, then their overnight thru the Roan Highlands (which I bailed on but did hike in and visit) and finally this trip, a waterfall extravaganza along the North Carolina South Carolina border on the Foothills Trail.

I did it to myself. On Roan, I declared I would be more tempted to do an overnight trip if it was to collect some waterfalls that required no other way to see unless you're willing to pay a tour guide to boat you in. The centerpiece of my trip would be Sky Falls located on Rock Creek which empties directly into Lake Jocassee. Sky Falls is around 150ft high and flows through a rocky cliff face creating an awe inspiring scene even in pictures, so I had to see it for myself. If you go searching the internet you'll find very little info available about it and it barely gets mentioned in Kevin Adam's waterfall guide due to being outside the property of Gorges State Park (p.242). A closer inspection using GIS data reveals the property splits the creek in half all the way to the falls, so if we stay in the creek we stay legal. Something we would later confirm from a second source.

The property issue aside I went into full planning mode looking at access points and routes to see Sky Falls and some nice waterfalls nearby. I settled on a connector I had used once before to hike to Virginia Hawkins Falls from Laurel Fork Gap along the Horsepasture Road in South Carolina. I thought we could hike that three miles down by Virginia Hawkins and Laurel Fork Falls on day one and camp by Rock Creek before knocking out Sky Falls on day two and climbing out via the Canebrake Trail to a second car to complete our shuttle. When I mentioned the idea to John and Shane they were both in agreement that good times would be had but John suggested doing the route in reverse since Canebrake would have a nearly five mile climb at the end of our trip. 

On Wednesday we all departed early with plans to meet at the park and ride on highway 64 outside of Rosman. NC to stage our cars for the shuttle. Shane and I linked up outside of Asheville and stopped and grabbed some subs for our supper while John traveled in from Maggie Valley. Our timing was impeccable and Shane agreed to wait at the park and ride while John and I made the nearly hour trip to drop a car at Lairel Gap. We experienced our first navigational error of the day when John and I following his GPS wound up on a narrow mountain road in private neighborhoods. We ended up backing up a good distance just to have room to turn around and go in the way I had previously been on Horsepasture Road. Despite the detour, we arrived back to Shane and were soon thereafter at Frozen Creek access for Gorges State Park. 

I checked and double checked my gear and truck before nervously shouldering my pack and clipping all the straps down. To me it felt like I had a house sitting on my back but Shane estimated it at around 27lbs. (I have since figured up the weights of what I had with me and it was closer to 40lbs.) The first .7 of the trail is a steady climb approaching a gap where the Auger Hole Trail breaks right and down to the Toxaway River near Chub Line, Step Around, and the Wintergreen Falls. We turned left at the gap onto Canebrake which follows the ridge for around a mile before beginning a four mile descent to where the Toxaway dumps into Lake Jocassee. Shane and John stayed a good bit ahead of me as I listened to my pack creak and groan under the strain of all my gear. Thankfully it drowned out the creaking of my knees and heavy breathing. 

Occasionally I would glance at our map and check the progress on my phone. In an hour we were able to cover three miles in full pack so we all were feeling really confident as the trail began to lose elevation in earnest. I couldn't help but notice some previous pins I had in my backcountry app from a trip to the Wilds and some crazy awesome waterfalls on Toxaway Creek. The Canebrake Trail splits the ridge between the Toxaway River and creek making it tantalizingly close to those falls and although you need permission to get in, it IS a Christian camp so sometimes you just need to ask yourself, "What would Jesus do?"

But anyway...

As we approached the confluence of the river with the lake the roar of water filled our ears and after five miles of chasing John and Shane down a mountain I was ready for a refreshing dip. I had read about a nearly 2 million dollar suspension bridge over the river nearby that was in the opposite direction of our destination but I still wanted to see it since it was less than a hundred yards away, plus I was getting in that river! On the bridge we discovered it had a lot of bounce especially with my weight on it which reminded Shane of his fear of heights. Seeing him grip the rails and scream was pretty satisfying. I finally relented and joined John beneath the bridge in a small cascade just shy of the lake. The water was brisk but it was so needed knowing we had another challenge less than a mile away.

During my research for our trip I noticed a lot of people talk about Heartbreak Ridge, a series of steep steps that ascend from the lake to a false summit and rest bench before continuing a grueling climb before descending down to Rock Creek. We crushed the half mile along the lake and passed by some stunning campsites before abruptly arriving at the foot of Heartbreak Ridge. Wooden steps held on with rebar are bolted into the side of rock faces and you climb over 300 of them before some sanity returns to the trail. At one point, if I had fell backwards it would have been a free fall until I crushed John far below me! The backside of Heartbreak is equally steep and we cautiously inched our way down toward the sound of a creek and our home for the night. 

I was afraid we would have company at the Rock Creek camp but it was completely empty allowing us to set up wherever we pleased. We found a nice spot directly beside the creek and shucked our packs to survey the surrounding area. A short distance down the creek was the lake and a beach looking area and we had a nice firepit with benches across from our camp. Perhaps most importantly, I felt great too! I had made it to within a mile of Sky Falls and even though we didn't start hiking until around 1230 we were at camp at ten minutes until five. Nothing could stop us now!

Then the rains came.

The rain started as a drizzle and quickly turned into a shower. It just so happened I was in the midst of setting up my tent. I was unable to get my rain fly on in time so the inside of my tent got filled with water. In my rush to try to get it finished I had laid my phone on my pack and water pooled around the port causing me to be unable to recharge it. So with 40% charge I had to shut it off to save it for pictures the next day and if I needed my map. Despite all this I stayed relatively jovial. I was with two of my best friends and I was going to see a waterfall I'd waited on for several years. I rummaged through my gear and shook my tent out as best I could. My sleep pad and new air mattress purchased just for this trip were dry and so were all my warm clothes for the chilly night ahead. 

The rain by this point had let up except for a drip here and there but an intense level of humidity followed and stayed with us into the evening. As I finally got all my camp situated I realized I had no need for warm clothes or ANY clothes for that matter. Shane set off to gather any firewood he could find not soaked from the rain with surprising success. Meanwhile John and I ate supper and unearthed the jar of shine I had secured for our trip. Shane got an impressive fire going and we sat around the benches letting our shoes dry out for the next morning while listening to music, telling stories, and of course, enjoying our beverages. As the first day wound down I retired to my tent right at 10pm while John and Shane remained by the fire pit. The heat was unbearable in my tent. Soon I had stripped of everything other than my headlamp and laid flat of my back staring up hoping for any kind of breeze. I slowly cooled off and may have even been dozing when I was woke by the running and laughing of Shane and John just outside our camp. I could see through the thin nylon that their headlamps were approaching at warp speed. Shane started yelling for me to come join them saying they had found a copperhead and I needed to take pictures. I grabbed my briefs and took out of the tent turning on my rain soaked phone. 

We had to search for a minute but we found the snake over by the bear cables laying on a branch. We spent several minutes there taking pictures before John and Shane realized I was almost naked and roared with laughter at the sight of me stalking around in my underwear and headlamp chasing a copperhead. We ended up leaving the snake to his area and we returned to ours and the rest of the evening was uneventful.

Day 2.

I awoke just before daybreak feeling really good. I was a little tired but my new air mattress had kept my hips from hurting and I estimated I had slept soundly for at least seven hours. John would confirm this since he got to listen to me snore all night. I snoozed a bit more until I heard Shane and John's voices over by the firepit. I crawled out and joined them learning it was shortly after 7am. We poked around and got the fire going again, ate our breakfast, brushed our teeth, and set out for Sky Falls around 845am. There isn't a trail to Sky Falls other than just hiking up Rock Creek and after our Copperhead encounter I wasn't keen on doing any bushwhacking anyway. The creek walk was pretty open with only a few downfall and a couple of tricky cascades to navigate around. It was already humid so I didn't mind staying in the deep holes we came across while Shane and John tried to stay semi-dry. It's always amazing to me how long a mile seems when walking in a creek. I estimate I can walk three miles of trail to the one mile of creek. I had studied a previous groups trip so I recognized several landmarks along the creek and told the guys I felt like we were getting close.

The biggest landmark is a road that swings down and parallels the creek. It continues all the way to the falls as there is a house built right at the base! Sure enough as we made it closer and closer Shane saw a flagpole up on the hill with an American flag and a Trump 2020 just below it. I was going to have to be on my best behavior. Despite the house, we continued on knowing we were legal and I finally laid my eyes on Sky Falls. All I can say is it's spectacular, I would put it easily in the top 20 waterfalls I've ever seen and that's saying something. All three of us were quick to dig out our phones and photograph the beauty in front of us. We were so distracted we barely noticed the owner of the house above us pulling in and watching us below. I had heard he's nice and I was hot so I went about my swimming and admiring the falls. When we finished playing we turned back down the creek and began our return to camp. As we pulled alongside the access road I heard the sound of a motor and it was coming our way.

Within minutes a man on a fourwheeler pulled up next to us. I was hesitant to say anything but he broke the ice by saying we were hardcore for walking the creek from the lake. John quickly noted "well we wanted to do it the legal way." The gentleman agreed and told us of how most people get frustrated and end up just trotting through his property. I told him we just enjoy seeing beautiful falls and how blessed he was to have a place like he did. He then shocked us all by inviting us up to check it out and get some fresh waters. We climbed the stairs where he and his wife were waiting on us. We exchanged chit chat and he wanted to give us the grand tour so we went in their cabin as he told us stories of his many conversation pieces. I tried my best to keep my back turned away from him since I had ripped my hiking shorts the day before riding a cascade down the Toxaway but mostly I stayed in shock as I couldn't get over his hospitality. Meanwhile his wife brought us some water and we spent nearly an hour with them before we had to get moving for our second day agenda. He graciously allowed us to walk his road and told us of an old trail he once made that cut our trip back time in half. I will have to say as impressive as the waterfall was, his kindness was even more so. 

Back at camp we made quick work of cleaning up and reloading our packs. Shane raved about how much lighter they'd be after eating our food and beverages but mine still felt heavy to me. We weren't warned of the climb out of Rock Creek and after having over two miles of off trail to see Sky Falls we faced a grunt of a mile climbing straight up from the lake to meet the ridge line. I really struggled and guzzled water as our visit with the land owners had put us hiking squarely in the heat of the day. When we mercifully reached the ridge I shed my pack and panted like a dog while Shane and John looked on. The ridge hiking was mostly flat and an old forest road paralleled the trail and we walked it for several stretches to cut out unnecessary up and down. Whoever designed the Foothills Trail is pretty sadistic for sure. My legs came around and we cruised into Laurel Fork around the seven mile mark of the day. The waterfall was huge but we didn't see a real good way to get down so knowing we still had over three miles of climbing to the gap we opted for sitting on the brink of the uppermost drop while our feet dangled and sharing a bag of almonds. 

The last three miles were agony. I had crazy fantasies of tossing my pack and just leaving it there for good. At one point my legs just stopped working and I found myself lying back on my pack like a turtle upside down on it's shell. John had the foresight to bring his walkie talkies so I checked in to let them know I needed a minute. They continued on to see the final waterfall of our day, Virginia Hawkins. I had previously seen it with Scott and Traci so I stuck to hiking on eventually meeting them at a detour section for the falls since the footbridge was out. We still had a little over a mile and I inched my way forward until I finally heard Shane and John at the gap while John blew his car horn to let me know I was almost done. 

I staggered out of the woods and across the Horsepasture Road. I finally could rid myself of the pack and I had clean clothes to put on since I could smell a two day camping trip stinch on the one's currently draped over my beat down carcass. John cranked the AC and then did his best to try to kill us in a fiery crash as he dashed out the narrow gravel road and to the other cars. Normally there is all kinds of chatter after a trip and we relive it in the parking lot before departing but all of us were tired and it showed as we threw our gear in our trucks and hit the road toward home. 

Now several days later, most of my wounds have healed and the soreness has dissipated I realize what a great trip it was. We all depended on each other one way or the other.  Shane brought me a packable quilt, I let John borrow my more reliable headlamp, he loaned me a water filter, while we both supplied Shane with delicious beverages. In two days we saw some of the finest waterfalls of the Foothills and squeezed in twenty miles of hiking. More than anything I look forward to our next trip. How else am I going to break in this new phone and waterproof case? Until next time, happy trails!