Solitude Pointe Campground, Cleveland, South Carolina
Thus says the LORD: “Behold, waters are going to rise from the north and become an overflowing torrent . . .” Jeremiah 47:2a
We ended up with four additional inches of rain overnight. There’s plenty of flooding around here and some roads are closed, but not the ones we need for today.
Today, we went back across the border, into the North Carolina State Forest and their Dupont National Recreation Area. They have 85 miles of trails, but we didn’t even scratch the surface, only hiking about 4.5 miles to see three waterfalls. But boy! Were they doozies!! The woman at the Visitor Center said they had a total of 7” of rain in three days. She also told us that “The Last of the Mohicans” and the first “Hunger Games” were filmed here.
Would ja look at that road?!
I’m confused . . .
are we in North Carolina or Romania?
Should I have brought garlic?
Let’s back up a minute and talk about food. Blaine made his infamous homemade waffles for breakfast (I cooked the bacon). Since we were full, and busy, we didn’t get to eat our meat/cheese/crackers lunch until about 2pm. That meant dinner was out of the question. So, pie a la mode it was! Great healthy food day today! (she said sarcastically) Although I did have pecans in my waffles. : )
It’s still overcast and drizzly today, and was supposed to reach a high of 41. We didn’t make it. The highest we saw was 38 degrees.
We hit the trail in search of High Falls first, but made a short detour to see their covered bridge. It actually spans the Little River which is the river all these waterfalls are part of. Once you see the pictures, you’ll wonder how they could’ve named it the Little River! Maybe it’s much lower without the rain?
What is that?
Never seen that before either!
Do they really need to tell people this?
And if so, shouldn’t it be down lower where we can see it?
Views from the bridge.
High Falls is a 150’ cascade. We actually learned the difference between a cascade and a waterfall recently. Wanna know the difference? Expand your knowledge a bit? It’s not a true waterfall unless the water leaves the surface of the ground and falls. A cascade is when the water just sort of slides down the rocks. And now maybe you’ve learned something new today!
There’s an upper and a lower viewing area here.
Here’s our first glimpse
With all this water, I’ll bet it’s turned from a cascade to a fall!
This is the upper viewing area
The lower one is more like going off-trail to get to the edge of the river. Of course, we did that! Carefully! But what a reward!
I just discovered that our phones aren’t loading sound into the computer, which means there’s no sound with our videos when I upload them to the blog. We’ll have to look into that, but I’m not holding up posting for it. Sorry. : (
UPDATE: I actually think the sound might be fixed now. Not sure. . . .
And now for the lower view:
This picture is of the tree.
Look how it grew! : )
The river level is up
And here’s our trail . . .
He made it! So I can too!
Next on our list was a visit to Triple Falls. This one is a 125’ waterfall, but it’s divided into three sections. I couldn’t find measurements for each section, but on this day, the water was incredible!
More wet trail sections
Wow!!
Steps down to the Middle Falls
Lest you get concerned, they have the safe area roped off.
And yes, we obeyed
This time
On the way back, we passed by Highwater again, this time from the vantage point of one of their picnic shelters. What a great place for a get-together!
At just 12.5 feet, Hooker Falls was a bit anti-climactic after witnessing the other two, and we felt bad that we weren’t more grateful. However, it’s our understanding that people love to swim here in the Summer. And the walk along the river was great!
You’d probably never guess, but that’s actually a Great Blue Heron. : )
I’m more secure than I look.
Unless I fall over backward . . .
Hooker Falls
So now we’ve completed the tri-fecta of waterfalls in Dupont (although there are plenty more to see), it’s time to head home and we’d planned a stop at Caesar’s Head State Park. It was pretty clear when we came through this morning, but now, everything was socked in! It was still fun to see what we couldn’t see, though. 😊
I’ll bet that’s a coveted picnic spot on clear days
Haven’t seen that sign before!
Just look at that!
What we’re supposed to see from here. . . .
There it is!
You’ll have to use your imagination . . . .
How do we always end up in these kind of places?
We couldn’t figure out what makes this a kitchen . . .
Maybe a refrigerator, but not a kitchen . . . : )
There he is . . . Caesar himself!
We thought it looked more like Caesar from ‘Planet of the Apes’ (you know, the ape leader?), but when we were in the VC, there was an old picture and Caesar used to have a more complete face. He hasn’t aged well.
We opted for this way, instead of going through the kitchen.
One encounter with the Devil is enough for one day.
Maybe we’ll get a chance to come back tomorrow since it’s fairly close to home.
We made our last stop at an unplanned vista called Bald Head. We saw a sign on the way up the mountain, and decided to give it a try before we went home for the evening.
I’m trying to think of something clever, but what do you say about defacing nature . . . .
He didn’t do it. But it’s the first thing you see when you cross the bridge. : )
Not great views, but better than Caesar’s. And waaay more colorful – despite the sign.