Another day of hunting waterfalls. This part of SC has a bunch of them but some are harder to find than others. We initially went to Chau-Ram County Park which has a nifty waterfall that you can see from the parking lot but after we paid it started to rain so we ducked out temporarily to go eat instead.
We ended up at a place called Yousef’s, which seems a bit strange for this part of the world considering the locals’ feelings about minorities in general and Arabs in particular. Once we got inside, we met Yousef who was wearing blue jeans, a nice shirt and a baseball cap and spoke English better than I do. He was a very nice guy and his restaurant serves great food, particularly chicken. The waitress we had originally lived in Chicago. Quite a few people seem to have emigrated to this state which is not surprising considering the scenery, which is spectacular, and the prices, which are low.
After pigging out at Yousef’s, we went back to Chau-Ram Park but it was raining even harder than when we left. The waterfall in the park is technically on Ramsey Creek just upstream of the confluence with the Chauga River, hence Chau-Ram. The park is very nice with a visitor center / meeting hall, picnic shelters big enough for groups of about 20 or 30 and some neat trails up both Ramsey Creek and the Chauga.
We left Chau-Ram and sort of wandered toward a waterfall called Riley Moore Falls which is up a dirt road with a new form of SC signage – none whatsoever. We were unsuccessful in our effort to find this waterfall and we are not sure it even exists considering the local knowledge one must possess to ascertain the location where it may or may not be.
After driving many miles back down the dirt road from the alleged location of Riley Moore, we got back on a paved road and cruised to Reedy Branch Falls near Long Creek, SC. Reedy Branch is about a quarter mile down a gravel and dirt road and you need to walk down the road to get to it since the US Forest Service maintains a locked traffic gate where the gravel road hits the paved highway. It is fortunate they maintain the locked gate because the road is almost completely washed out near the falls. However, the trail to the falls splits from the gravel road right before the washout and the trip up the trail is definitely worth the walk. The waterfall at Reedy Branch is gorgeous. The water tumbles over the bluff about 60 or 80 feet above the pools at the bottom and cascades down a series of rock shelves. We were absolutely alone here; nobody else was around which is surprising considering how beautiful a place this is. It was a tragedy.
After hitting this spot we headed back towards the Invader with only about 3 or 4 little forays off the highway to find things that do not have signage such that idiots like us can find them. Even getting temporarily lost in this part of the world is fun. The scenery is beautiful, the roads are moderately well paved, the access fees to the parks are dirt cheap and getting lost is actually pleasant. What a place.