Solitude Pointe Campground, Cleveland, South Carolina
I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! ~ Deuteronomy 32:3
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOTHER, MAY! My mom is a wonder to me – – in a good way. She’s the one who taught me to be considerate of others, to love unconditionally, and to put other people ahead of yourself. All godly principles that I learned first from her. Thanks, Mom!
Rain, rain, go away!
Come again some other day!
Blaine and Terri want to play!
On a normal day, it wouldn’t be this dark!
It’s actually almost eight-o’clock in the morning!
When we checked in yesterday, the owners told us about some area nature sights and gave us a map they’d drawn up, and also a giant 3-ring binder with all kinds of information in it – hiking, restaurants, museums, etc. from a wide area, up to maybe two hours away. And we could keep it for the duration of our stay if we wanted! What a nice touch!
Here’s an excerpt from their book . . .
Although reports indicated 100% chance of rain for the next few days, Blaine checked radar and found a hole, so we took off around 10am, headed for things that were fairly close.
Pretty drive
Up first, Twin Falls. The road to here kept getting more and more narrow, and more and more off the beaten path. So much so, we could swear we heard the twang of dueling banjos.
Here’s the trail.
Looks a lot like the road!
But once we arrived! Oh my! There was so much water from the rain, it was Quadruple Falls!
The trail was alongside the river.
So awesome!
This is a memorial for someone.
Very unique!
Just beginning to see the waterfalls.
And there they are!
The two main ones are the ones they usually have.
The rest is just a bonus from the rain!
Time to head back.
Along the way, I discovered a fairy condo complex!
Then we drove to the Table Rock State Park.
These were growing along the sidewalk to the Visitor Center!
I’ve seen things like this in craft stores, but never knew they could be copied from something real!
Beautiful!
Doesn’t this look like a quilt?
It’s beside the front door and it’s a painting.
Inside
The VC yard.
Not looking good for a Table Rock sighting . . .
As you will see later, there was no view of Table Rock today, and there was no reason to hike to it, because we’d never see anything else either. We passed by the Table Rock Lodge, built in 1938, but didn’t really stop except to take a picture because we discovered they wanted $10/person – – – – for each State Park!
The Lodge
This board shows where Table Rock is supposed to be.
See it?
I’m sure you can, since I provided you with a picture map!
Pretty cool, huh?
Lunch in a parking lot today.
Not overly exciting, but we could see the other side of the lodge from here.
We left to try to find Jones Gap Falls, which on this day required 3.5-4 miles of wet, drizzly hiking, 14 stream crossings, 5 bridge crossings, 6 streams that ran on the trail, and along the raging Middle Saluda River.
Well, looky what crossed the road in front of us!
In search of Jones Gap Falls
Along the way, we found an old trout farm
There were actually some fish in it, but we don’t know what they were, or why they were here.
He was a giant of a man!
He started the trout farm thing here.
If I remember correctly, this is a Park office.
In the same area, there was also this information board about he Continental Divide.
Don’t worry. We took a close up of the words. : )
Still looking for the trailhead.
Ah ha! There it is!
I tried to find a better copy of this picture, but to no avail.
If you lean back and squint, it’s easier to see.
You did that didn’t you? Ha!
It’s a picture of some wagons trying to get through the Jones Gap.
And people paid good money for this???
I found this on the web (I think it was the State Park site):
So where did the name come from? Jones is a common name. But in this case, it belonged to a very uncommon man.
Solomon Jones was a road builder who was born in Buncombe County, NC, on March 7, 1802. Though he was self-taught and used no instruments, he was incredibly talented at his work.
According to local lore, he set his razor-back sow free at the top of what would later become a road called Jones Gap Toll Road and followed her down, holding onto the pig’s tail. He knew that she’d take the shortest route. Thus the Jones Gap Toll Road was created along that same path.
Jones had a businessman’s mind. Once the road was opened, he charged a toll to access it. It was the only direct road between Transylvania County and Greenville until US 276 opened in the 1930s.
Jones was also responsible for several other roads in the area. According to The Woodville Republican paper published on Jan. 20, 1927, “Solomon Jones [possessed] the distinction of being the first American scenic road builder whose pursuit was so recognized.”
When he died at the age of 97, the road builder Solomon Jones was buried on top of Mount Hebron peak, a mountain peak near Laurel Park in Henderson County, NC, that he’d purchased and named as a young man.
BlueRidgeNow.com says that Jones commissioned this epitaph five years prior to his death: “Here lies Solomon Jones, The Road Maker. A True Patriot. He labored fifty years to leave the world a better place than he found it. Born 7 March 1802. Died 23 April 1899.”
Jones was the father of twelve children and married twice, the second time at the age of 80. The home he built on Mount Hebron is still in use today.
And now, we have the amazing Jones Gap State Park — which eventually sprang up along his namesake toll road. The park officially opened to the public in January 1989. Today, it boasts nearly 4,000 acres of land all total, and it’s home to more than 600 kinds of wildflowers, as well as more than 60 types of mammals.
Next time you visit, say thanks to a very uncommon man.
One of the many streams we had to cross.
This is a campsite.
They have them scattered all along the trail.
We’d struck out on finding the waterfall, so Blaine went off trail and bit to see what he could see.
He found it!
This shows what we had to go through to get to see it!
And there were no signs.
Probably because they don’t really want people coming here. We were kinda perched on a precipice.
Great day! And it warmed up to 54 degrees by this afternoon!
Last stop – groceries.
It turned out to be a nice day despite the clouds and rain.