Lake Jocassee Sailing, Camping,
and Waterfall Wandering Weekend
Friday August 28th and Saturday August 29th, 2009
With Captain Johnny and Andy
Trip report written by Jack Thyen
Jack’s photos are posted here:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/574391977BFIODx
Another Awesome Jocassee Adventure
For several months, Johnny, Andy, and I have been talking about getting
together for a weekend on Lake Jocassee. I have
been wanting to visit Sky Falls on Rock Creek which
requires bushwhacking about a mile up the creek from Lake Jocassee.
While you can access this point via a long hike on the Foothills Trail, a much
easier way is by boat. Also, by camping out we could get there much
earlier in the morning during prime light. So that would be our plan for
Saturday Morning.
We all agreed to try and get out of work a little early on Friday so we can
launch the boat early enough to see some sites around the lake before setting
up camp. Andy and I met Johnny at his house at 3:00pm and hit the road
towards Devils Fork State Park at Lake Jocassee.
I have hiked with both Johnny and Andy many times before. However, never together. I was surprised when I
realized that this was the first time they had actually met in person.
The weather forecast called for a 80% chance of rain,
and being that I was planning on setting up a tent would surely bring those
rain chances to 100%. However, some of the most incredible lake scenes
happen just before or after rain showers. We were not about to cancel the
trip due to a weather forecast!
On Hwy 11 just north of Cleveland, SC we passed by Wildcat Falls and saw there
was barely a trickle of flow. The area definitely needs some rain, but
hopefully it will somehow miss us this weekend.
Somewhere on Hwy 11 near Table Rock the sky opened up with one of the heaviest
rain showers I have ever seen. It sure will be fun trying to launch the
boat in this, I thought. It probably rained close to 2-inches in about a
half hour, but fortunately it had completely passed by the time we reached
Devils Fork State Park.
We launched the boat and had several hours of daylight to explore around the
lake.
Wright Creek - Right Time
The first stop was Wright Creek Falls. When the Lake is
full, Wright Creek Falls right into Lake Jocassee.
After another dry summer the lake is currently at about 15-feet below full
pool, which reveals a nice Sandy Beach at the base of Wright Creek Falls.
Perfect to set up the tri-pods and get some nice photos of this really cool
waterfall.
There is short scramble path on the left side of
the waterfall that leads to an upper drop. There are no roads or trails
that I am aware of anywhere near this waterfall, so the only way to reach it is
via Boat.
Other than a little mud coloring to the water from the earlier rain shower, we
were definitely at the Wright Creek at the right time!
Moondance via Moondance
Next, we took the boat up the Whitewater River fork of the lake and docked
where the river enters the lake. A few hundred yards upstream is the very
impressive Moondance Falls.
Several years ago Johnny took Waterfall Rich to this spot. Rich asked
Johnny what the name of the waterfall was, and Johnny said it didn't have
one. Rich decided to name it after Johnny's boat "Moondance", and posted some photos of "Moondance Falls" to his www.ncwaterfalls.com website.
Rich's site is by far the most valuable online resource for Carolina
Waterfalls, and since he posted photos of Moondance
Falls, several other sources have picked up on the Moondance
Falls name for this very impressive waterfall.
Hopefully Johnny's legacy will live on and future maps and publications will
all pick up on the Moondance Falls name and the story
about how it came about.
It's a tough little scramble to get to from the lake, especially with the rocks
all wet and slick from the earlier rain shower. However, it is still much
easier than trying to access it from upstream! As far as I am concerned,
via boat is the only way to safely visit Moondance
Falls making it a very appropriate name!
Moonshine on Moondance
Darkness was approaching and we were on the complete opposite end of the lake
from where we planned on camping. If you are looking to move around the
lake at high speed, Johnny's boat is not the way to go. We were about 2
hours from where we planned on setting up camp.
We enjoyed a awesome display of the evening twilight sky over the lake and
surrounding mountains . After that faded, we put
the cameras away for the night and pulled some other stuff from my cooler in
the cabin of the boat. That Crystal Clear elixir of the Gods!
A very enjoyable few hours passed before we docked the boat for the evening in
complete darkness at a muddy beach at the mouth of Rock Creek. We toted
our tents, sleeping bags a few hundred yards up the Foothills Trail and set up
camp with only a mostly cloud covered moon and some flashlights to break the
darkness.
After Andy and I set up our tents, Johnny hung around for a little while to
enjoy a few more swigs of the Crystal Clear Elixir of the Gods before returning
to the cabin of his boat for the evening. Andy and I were planning an
early start the next morning, so we retired to our tents as well.
It was perfect sleeping weather. With the cascading creek beside the
tents and a good dose of shine in my blood, I slept like a rock!
The Sky is the limit
Andy and I got up shortly before 7:00am grabbed our packs and camera gear and
started our bushwhack up Rock Creek. Johnny
decided to pass, as he had visited Sky Falls just a few weeks ago.
While Andy and I bushwhacked to Sky Falls, Johnny would take his Kayak on the
lake and explore up the Toxaway Fork of Lake Jocassee. This part of the Lake is too shallow and
Rocky to bring the sailboat, so the Kayak would be the perfect vessel.
The bushwhack up Rock Creek was much easier than I was
anticipating. Some parts were made even easier by just trekking through
the creek in ankle to knee deep water, so I wouldn't recommend it in cold
weather.
Rock Creek plunges over a cliff and falls close to 150-feet in a series of
drops to form the very spectacular Sky Falls.
We did not pass any No Trespassing signs, but I am pretty sure the waterfall is
on Private Property. There is a small shack of a cabin on the left bank
overlooking the waterfall, but fortunately there was no sign of life there
during our visit.
Since our boots were already wet, getting in the creek was not a problem and
gave us the option of virtually unlimited composition angles. We spent
close to an hour photographing the falls before deciding to move on.
There is at least one more substantial drop upstream called Indian Ford
Falls. However neither of us knew much about it our did
any research as to how to get there. Looking at Sky Falls, we decided there
was no way to safely advance upstream on either side.
We knew that Waterfall Rich had visited Indian Ford Falls several years ago and
he got there by descending down from somewhere in the Round Mountain Community.
We backtracked downstream a little and connected to the path leading away from
the earlier mentioned cabin. We assumed this would take us into the Round
Mountain Community.
This might have been the steepest path I have ever been on. I can't
imagine anyone taking a passenger vehicle up or down it. I can only
assume that the cabin's owner's park near the top and take an ATV down to their
cabin.
That was a grunt of a climb, but we made it to the top and saw several other
homes along with an impressive view of Lake Jocassee far down below. As long as we didn't come
across any No Trespassing signs, we would continue on.
We took several paths back towards the creek which all fizzled out in the
incredibly steep terrain. The most promising one was at the end of OL'Looney Coon Road. A long rope led down a scramble
path. I figured that must lead to somewhere.
It led to Hell! Andy quickly gave up. I continued on a little
farther before deciding this was not a good idea. Last thing I wanted to
do was to injure myself a week before our Yellowstone Vacation! So I
turned back as well.
After some after hike research on Google Earth, I believe if I continued on, I
would have ended up at the cliffs just above Sky Falls or right along the side
of it. Definitely not a safe place to explore alone.
I think that Indian Ford Falls is located a good bit further upstream.
Hopefully we can get some inside information from Waterfall Rich as to the best
place to access and return again to find Indian Fork Falls. At least for
now we know we can get to the Round Mountain Community without passing any
"No Trespassing" signs and without having to drive into the
development and violate any of the "No Parking" signs. The few
people we saw inside the development just gave us a friendly wave and didn't
appear to mind us being there.
Rather than heading back the way we came, we took a little side trail which
Andy was pretty sure would connect to the Foothills Trail and back to our
campsite. Andy led the way taking care of the spider webs. However,
he really needs to do a better job of getting the high ones!
Andy was right, we soon entered Gorges State Park and
connected with the Foothills trail. Close to our campsite, Andy spotted a
bear in the creek.
Moondance sets sail
Actually, it wasn't a bear, it was Johnny exploring
the creek. We packed up our tents and camping gear and with Johnny's
help, toted it all back to the boat in one trip, and hit the lake.
Once we got into the more open section of the lake, we docked the boat, cleaned
it up a bit, and went for a little swim in the lake to clean off the weekend's
grime and sweat. Johnny set the sails and the remainder of our journey
would be via wind power.
There wasn't a whole lot of wind, but just enough breeze
to fill the sails and fill the rest of the afternoon with a peaceful sail on
Lake Jocassee.
It was a great weekend, and we squeezed a lot into our little overnight
adventure. It was nice to get back on Saturday and know I had all day
Sunday to go through the photos, write the trip report, and get ready for my
last week of work before Yellowstone!
Thanks Johnny for another awesome Jocassee adventure!
A few additional comments from Andy:
I first visited Sky Falls with Christy in March of
2000. On that occasion, we had
backpacked to a campsite on Toxaway Creek near Lake Jocassee. The next
morning we hiked the Foothills Trail up to the ridge separating Toxaway Creek and Rock Creek. We found a path heading up the ridge, which we
followed until we spotted a house through the trees ahead. At this point we bailed off the ridge,
bushwhacking down an incredibly steep slope covered in Rhododendron, Dog
Hobble, and fallen trees. We slid, crawled,
and thrashed our way through the jungle all the way down to Rock Creek. From there we hiked up the creek, as there
was no hint of a trail. When we finally
reached Sky Falls, we thought it was the most amazing thing we’d ever seen. No doubt the extreme difficulty we
experienced getting there increased our appreciation for it.
For years I’ve ranked Sky Falls among my all-time
favorites. Unfortunately, things
change. Now there is a small cabin
overlooking the falls from the ridge immediately downstream. The property owners have built a “road” down
from the Round Mountain development. It
drops straight down to the creek following an absurdly steep grade. No regular passenger vehicle could negotiate
this “road”. A jeep might be able to
handle it, but it looks like it was designed for ATVs only. The road follows the creek briefly, before
running up the hill to the cabin.
It’s funny – the road descends to the creek along the
same ridge Christy and I bushwhacked down years ago. Getting to Sky Falls is a lot easier
now. It’s too bad the road is a muddy
eyesore. Even worse, the property owners
cleared all the trees from the hillside beyond the cabin to allow a clear view
of the falls. Sky Falls will never be
the same. The waterfall itself is still
a beauty, but I can’t say the same for the overall surroundings.
It’s now apparent to me that Sky Falls is on private
property (I wasn’t aware of this during our previous visit). There aren’t any “no trespassing” signs, but
that could always change. Also, if you plan
to visit Sky Falls, keep in mind that you will be in plain view from the cabin.
A few other random thoughts:
1) If
you like Oconee Bells, Rock Creek is the place to be in late March. We found beds of them all up and down the
creek.
2) Getting
to Moondance Falls is a bit treacherous, but it’s
worth it. Upper Whitewater Falls and
Lower Whitewater Falls are spectacular, but Moondance
ain’t too shabby, either.
3) Moonshine
is made for sipping, not gulping.
Thanks to Johnny for
inviting us on his boat! It was a great
weekend!
Andy’s photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9067009@N03/sets/72157622187566820/
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