The Jocassee Gorge Passage of the Palmetto Trail
Pickens County, SC
Sunday, April 24th, 2011
Trip report by Jack Thyen

Blog Post:
http://scjack.blogspot.com/2011/04/jocassee-gorge-passage-of-palmetto.html

Photos are posted here:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/580105936KJXcdv

Slide Show Format:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/slideshow/580105936KJXcdv



The Jocassee Gorge Passage of the Palmetto Trail has been on my "to do" list
since it was first open to the public about 5 years ago. The trail is listed at
12.6 miles long (one way). Therefore in order to complete the whole trail
during a day hike I would need to arrange a shuttle.

Andy and Brenda also were interested so the shuttle problems were solved. Andy
(and Boone) met me in Spartanburg and we drove together to the western trailhead
on US178 where we would meet Brenda. There is no official parking at this
trailhead, but about 200yards South is a pull-off wide enough for about 3
vehicles.

We left Brenda's vehicle there and combined into my truck for the ride to the
Eastern Trailhead inside Table Rock State Park. I am not a big fan of shuttle
hikes, because sometimes it seems you spend more time shuttling vehicles than
actual hiking, but this one only took about 15 minutes.

There are probably safe places to park where you can avoid the $2.00/person SC
State Park Entrance Fee, but we went ahead and paid the $6.00 and parked at the
official trailhead inside Table Rock State Park by the Pinnacle Pavilion (aka
The Barn).

We hit the trail at about 10:15am.

I am not going to write a whole lot of detail about the hike. Instead I will
just give some general impressions and highlights about the trail.

About 70% of the route is a very well designed and constructed trail. All
elevation changes are nice and gradual with heavy utilization of switchbacks.

About 30% of the route is on Forest Service Roads. When hiking these roads, it
is very easy to miss the spot where the trail leaves the road. I was in the
lead most of the time and I missed the turn on at least (3) different occasions.
Some of these forest roads go on for miles and it would be very easy to get way
off track. One missed turn added a little over a half mile to our hike total,
but it could have been a lot more!

There were some wildflowers out, but overall I was disappointed with the
wildflower display along the trail.

Just before Mile #1, the trail crosses over Mill Creek. Our buddy Johnny
bushwhacked upstream and found a very impressive looking waterfall. Due to the
long day ahead of us, we elected to save that for another time.

At around Mile Marker #3, the trail crosses Rachel Creek and a couple of its
tributaries. The trail map shows a waterfall here, but it is very unimpressive
and not even worth a photo.

A much more impressive looking waterfall is located on Rachel Creek downstream
from the trail. Our Buddy Waterfall Rich found this waterfall by bushwhacking
upstream from Hwy 11. I believe Rich's route requires crossing private
property.

It should be possible to access this waterfall and staying entirely on public
land if you followed the creek downstream from the Palmetto Trail. We didn't
try it today, but I will plan a return visit to explore both Mill Creek and
Rachel Creek in hopes of finding these waterfalls!

The trail crosses Emory Creek at around mile 7 just upstream from an impressive
looking waterfall. Andy and I bushwhacked down to the base while Brenda took a
nice break. Photo conditions where lousy, but this one is definitely more
impressive than this photo shows.

I attempted to get a better view, but almost went for an unintended swim! The
water was much deeper and the rocks much slipperier than expected. I might have
tried again, but the photo conditions did not justify the risk.

There are lots of potential for waterfalls on Emory Creek both upstream and
downstream from the trail. However, Hiking 7 miles (one way) just to get to
this point does not leave much opportunity for exploration during a day hike.
It appears that a Hunting Access Road leads to the same area and may be a good
access option for further exploration of Emory Creek.

Much of this trail crosses through SCDNR Game Lands. We planned the hike for
Sunday so we didn't have to worry about getting mistaken for Wild Turkeys and
shot. However, any other day of the week, you should plan on the possibly of
encountering Hunters!

There are some nice views through the trees, which would be even better in the
winter. However, there are really no wide open spectacular vistas!

Elevation starts at around 1200-ft, peaks at around 2,800-feet and ends at
1,800-feet with a few ups and downs in between. It would make for a slightly
easier hike by going in the reverse direction from how we did it.

We finished up at about 5:30pm which means that it took us just over 7 hours to
complete the hike. This includes (2) extended sit-down breaks and a couple of
other short breaks. It also includes the (1) missed turn which added a little
over a half mile to the total hike distance.

Overall it is a nice trail and it was a very enjoyable day hiking in the woods.
However, there is absolutely nothing about this trail that would cause me to
recommend it as "Must Hike" trail.

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