DISCOVERING TOWER FALLS
I’ve
been studying the topo map of the Rocky Bottom, SC area for a few years now to
search for unknown or off-the-radar waterfalls.
That area has yielded a number of successes, like the little-known Wild
Hog Creek and Pinnacle Falls on Abner Creek, to true discoveries such as
Sassafras Falls. The lower section of
Laurel Branch is one that I’ve been eying for a couple of years now. Laurel Branch is not to be confused with
Laurel Fork or Laurel Creek, though all 3 start within a mile or so of one
another. Laurel Fork is well-known, as
it goes over a major waterfall before entering Lake Jocassee. Laurel Creek and Laurel Branch are both
tributaries of Eastatoe Creek. Laurel Branch is the stream farther north,
entering Eastatoe Creek well upstream from the private
property near Twin Falls on Reedy Cove Creek.
A
light work schedule and favorable weather gave me the opportunity to finally
check out Laurel Branch last week. It
rained all day on Wednesday, and I was free on Thursday. Laurel Branch is a fairly small stream, so I
really wanted to visit it when the water was up. My Team Waterfall friends Brenda and Jennifer
decided to join me, along with my dogs, Boone and Kona. Brenda was only able to join us for the first
part of the hike though, and I wasn’t successful in convincing her to do more
of the hike.
The
plan was to meet at the Foothills Trail parking area on Horsepasture
Road at 9:30 Thursday morning.
Unfortunately, a tractor trailer had wrecked earlier that morning,
blocking the road that Brenda travels to reach that area. I talked with her, and convinced her to drive
the long way around through Rosman. I was running a little late anyway, and it
wouldn’t be a big deal if we started out a little behind schedule.
My
plan was to start with the easy hike to The Narrows on Eastatoe
Creek. From there, we would hike
off-trail downstream to Side of Mountain Creek and Laurel Branch. I was hopeful that we would find some sort of
old road or trail. If it was pure
bushwhacking, it would be a very long day!
Hopefully we’d make it all the way to Laurel Branch. From there, we could return by the same
route, or we could hike upstream. Going
that way would lead us to a network of old logging roads connecting to Horsepasture Road.
We could always follow those roads back.
We
chatted for a bit in the parking area while we were packing. That is when Jennifer noticed that her
headlamp wasn’t in her pack. I assured
her that I intended to finish this hike before dark. If not, my headlamp was bright enough for
both of us. Plus, the end of the hike
would be on either a good trail or a road, depending on our exit route.
We
started our hike at 10am under sunny skies.
After a short walk on Horsepasture Road we
picked up the well-marked and gently graded trail to The Narrows. The trail mostly follows old logging roads,
though the final stretch is a constructed trail on switchbacks down into the
gorge. Early on, while hiking a flat, easy
stretch of the old forest road, I stepped in a hole and tweaked my left ankle. I caught my weight on my right leg, which
sent a jolt of pain through my right knee.
I kept walking, and the pain quickly faded. I didn’t give it another thought until nearly
48 hours later, when pain in my right knee woke me up. As I write this on Monday, my right knee is
swollen and painful. I’m not sure if the
issue stemmed from stepping in that hole, but I can’t think of any other
cause. It is odd though that my knee didn’t
bother me at all during the rest of the hike or on Friday.
The
rest of the hike to The Narrows was uneventful.
When we reached the switchbacks heading down into the gorge Brenda
decided to turn back. She had an
extremely strenuous hike planned for the next day and didn’t want to do
anything demanding. Jennifer and I continued
on, heading down to the official overlook, which is above and immediately
downstream from The Narrows. The view
from here is decent, but not optimal.
From there we backtracked a bit and then hiked towards the official
campsite, which is now closed due to numerous dead hemlock trees. From there we followed a rough path
downstream. We battled thorns and fallen
trees before reaching an open rock directly above the beginning of The
Narrows.
The
Narrows is a short slot canyon, where all of the force of Eastatoe
Creek tumbles into a narrow chasm. The
slot is only a couple of feet wide at its narrowest point. The view from the top is fantastic, but
risky. The rock was wet due to the
recent rain, and Eastatoe Creek was raging. A slip there would’ve been ugly. I managed to get photos from a precarious
perch above the chasm, but I was not comfortable standing there. I wanted to scramble up one ledge higher for
a better angle, but that was completely out of the question. It just wasn’t worth the risk.
We
had lunch there before doubling back.
After a short distance we fought through a thicket to reach the bank of Eastatoe Creek. On
the far side is a small tributary that looked like it had waterfall potential
on the topo map. There was definitely a
run of high cascades there, but dense vegetation prevented a good view. Crossing the raging creek immediately
upstream from The Narrows was too risky, and I doubt it would’ve been worth it
anyway. To get a better view, a hiker
would have to scramble upstream to see each section of the cascades
individually. On a stream that small, it
is unlikely to be worth the effort.
We
hiked back almost all of the way to the overlook, where we ran into a solo
hiker. He was the only other person we
saw all day. Just before the overlook we
descended on a rough but obvious path.
It led us down to the base of a pretty 20’ waterfall with additional
sliding cascades below. From there we
continued downstream on an old railroad grade.
Early on we passed several rails, and the grade itself was obvious
(though occasionally covered in fallen trees).
For the most part this section of the hike was easy, aside from
occasional deadfall. It was also beautiful. There were lots of slides and cascades past
vertical rock walls and giant boulders.
There were a number of outstanding swimming holes,
and one 12’ ledge type waterfall a short distance downstream from Side of
Mountain Creek.
We
forded Side of Mountain Creek at its mouth, just downstream from a gently
sliding cascade. I wish we’d had time to
explore upstream along that pretty stream.
The topo map suggests that there could be some cascades or even a small
waterfall along its final descent to Eastatoe Creek.
We
continued on, passing a high cascade on a tiny tributary. In the summer it is probably dry. Just beyond our progress was halted by cliffs
dropping straight into Eastatoe Creek. The railroad must have crossed the creek at
this point. That wasn’t an option for
us, so we scrambled up the steep bank and used roots to climb to the top of the
ridge. Once at the top, we descended
gradually back towards the creek. We
were almost all of the way back down when we noticed more difficult terrain
ahead. It looked like we might be able
to work our way along the creek, but we couldn’t tell if it would be
passable. Instead, we climbed
again. We went even higher this time to
avoid a steep gully. Once across the
ridge we could hear Laurel Branch roaring below. That sounded encouraging! We crossed a faint remnant of an old logging
road and bushwhacked down to Laurel Branch.
We reached the creek around 1,200’.
This was one of the spots that I thought might have a waterfall. All we found there were a couple of minor
cascades. One was noteworthy, but there
was enough deadfall in front of it to ruin our attempts at photos. I explored downstream briefly from here, to
make sure that there wasn’t anything below us.
I hiked almost all of the way to Eastatoe
Creek but didn’t find anything other than minor cascades.
This
was disappointing, but I wasn’t ready to give up on this creek. We decided to bushwhack upstream along Laurel
Branch. This was tough due to the steep
terrain and thick vegetation. We were
rewarded almost immediately though. Once
we reached the top of the first cascades, we could see a long curving
waterslide above us. Up near the top was
a steeper section – possibly even a vertical waterfall. Immediately above that section was an
incredible rock tower. That spire was
just a part of a much larger cliff. That
cliff certainly looked promising – it looked like Laurel Branch might have
something for us after all.
We
fought our way upstream along the waterslide.
Eventually we reached a point where I could safely get out in the
stream. I drenched my boots in the
process, but it was worth it. Above us
was a long sliding cascade bordered by rhododendron. Above that was a major waterfall tumbling
down below the rock tower we’d spotted earlier.
I was so excited, it was difficult not to race
upstream. I made myself take a few
photos from that lower vantage point first though.
More
bushwhacking brought us to the base of a 60’ waterfall. At this point, at about 1,400’, there are
probably 150 vertical feet of steep sliding cascades below. The waterfall tumbles down below the rock
tower, which is so tall that you have to crane your neck to see it all. That inspired me to name this one Tower
Falls. At the very base of the falls is
a giant boulder. At first Jennifer said
she would climb up onto it, but it was too big and too wet to climb.
We
took lots of photos there. By the time
we were finished it was after 4pm. If we
had started back immediately, we might have finished with the worst of the
bushwhacking before dark. However, I
wasn’t crazy about returning by the same route.
The root climb we’d done earlier would be tricky to descend. Plus, the map suggested that there might be
additional waterfalls above us. Neither
of us was ready to leave.
We
bushwhacked away from the stream on River Left.
This side was also cliffy, but not impassable like the side with the
tower! We fought our way uphill through
briars and deadfall until we stumbled on the remnants of the old road we’d
crossed earlier. We followed it uphill,
roughly paralleling the stream. The
section immediately above the brink of Tower Falls is rather placid, but that
didn’t last long. After a minute or two
we found ourselves above another waterfall.
We had to check it out.
Getting down from the old road proved
difficult. The first couple of places we tried were
cliffy. I scouted upstream and found a
marginally better spot. Jennifer had a
25’ rope, and we decided to use it. It
was just long enough to get us down through a section of cliffs and ledges. Fortunately the dogs were able to make it
down. Later, when we left, we discovered
a much easier descent route slightly farther upstream.
This
waterfall is a long series of steep slides.
The creek twists and turns through this stretch, so we could only see
the lowest section from our vantage point.
I decided to name this one Nya’s Falls, after
my niece. After we climbed back up to
the old road we discovered that there is quite a bit more to Nya’s Falls that had been out of sight from our initial vantage
point. Unfortunately it was getting late
and we didn’t have time to investigate each individual drop.
Near
the top of the run we spotted something fascinating. The creek runs under a house-sized
boulder. It goes under as one stream but
emerges as three. At that point it
begins to slide and cascade down Nya’s Falls. We spent some time trying to photograph this,
but found it extremely difficult to capture.
From
there we continued following the old road upstream. This was tedious, as there isn’t much left of
the road, and it was frequently blocked by fallen trees. After a short distance we were both getting
frustrated with it. Plus, it was 5:30,
and I really wanted to be on one of the roads that are actually shown on the
map by dark. We decided to hike cross
country directly towards Horsepasture Road. We climbed to the top of a ridge, where we
stumbled on a slightly better old road.
This led to a better one. From
here I managed to get enough of a cell signal to text my wife and let her know
that I’d be home late. We enjoyed a nice
sunset through the trees here before continuing on.
Before
long our road merged with one that is actually on the map. At that point I stopped to get my headlamp
out. I wanted to go ahead and get it
before it became completely dark.
I
completely emptied my pack, but the light wasn’t in there. Oh boy.
We were several miles from the cars, the last of twilight was barely
hanging on, and we had no light sources.
Jennifer was concerned. I was
also concerned, but I didn’t see how this curve ball really changed
anything. We would still be road walking
in the dark – it’s just that it would be very dark.
It
turns out that we actually each had two light sources. We both had cell phones and cameras. The cell phone screen emits some light, and the
flashlight app is even brighter. Luckily
I’d just gotten a new phone, so I wasn’t concerned about the battery
dying. If we really got desperate, we
both had cameras with built-in flashes.
It
turns out that we didn’t need lights. We
simply followed the road to Horsepasture Road, which
took us to Laurel Fork Gap and back to the cars. I preferred to avoid using the light we had
to preserve my night vision. I did use
my Gaia App to keep track of our location on the topo map I’d downloaded in
advance. I definitely didn’t want to
wander off course! The hike in the dark
was actually kind of pleasant. The stars
were brilliant, and the darkness turned an otherwise boring road walk into in
adventure. There were no issues, aside
from occasionally stepping in a puddle.
The darkness probably slowed us down a little though – we didn’t return
to the cars until 8:30!
It
was a grand adventure full of thrilling discoveries, but there is still a lot
more in that area to explore. I plan to
return to Laurel Branch when I can spend more time there. There are also numerous other streams in the
area that I want to investigate, including Eastatoe
Creek upstream from The Narrows.
A
map showing waypoints from our hike is here:
https://www.angelfire.com/trek/fungi/SC/Eastatoe_Gorge_map.html
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