The mild weather in November meant that we were able to get some good hikes in and we were able to do some exploration of the Highway 11 “adventure corridor.” We coined the name because this is the highway that runs through the “Dark Corner” of SC, from the border of Georgia to the North Carolina border, crossing over the 3 major lakes of Upstate SC- Hartwell, Keowee, and Jocassee, and there are quite a number of parks, swimming holes, gorges, waterfalls, and hikes in the area that make for fun exploring.
I was excited for Scott to see Gorges State Park for the first time- a park that I had frequented quite often while in college when I would go with friends to slide down Turtleback Falls. We took the dogs with us and Scott spent most of the drive explaining to Andi that he was impervious to her relentless whining, huffing, and impatient pawing and tapping at the window to try to get him to roll it down for her to stick her head out. He attributed his resilience to having two kids and I’ll admit that she did eventually give up and settle down.
Gorges State Park is right on the NC/SC border and is near Lake Jocassee. The Horsepasture river is fairly unimpressive and more like a creek until after it flows over Turtleback Falls, speeds up and then dramatically spills to create Rainbow Falls. The river below Rainbow Falls is fast and crammed with huge boulders. The interaction of light and the mist created by the waterfall creates a rainbow, hence it’s name and in the summer the slope across from the falls is filled with wildflowers that flourish in the lush microclimate created by the falls.
After hiking in and taking in the views of Rainbow Falls, we ventured on to Turtleback, just a few hundred yards farther up the trail. After Scott and Andi explored some of the boulders at the base of Turtleback, we set the hammock up in some trees amongst them and soaked up the sun for a bit.
The following weekend we took a trip to Table Rock to do the trail that goes to the top. At the halfway point we stopped to have our picnic lunch on the bald granite dome that provided a panoramic view of the lakes and forests below. I often joke that Scott is actually a lizard because he suns himself any chance he gets, and true to form, he spent some time sunning himself on this rock. We had the dogs with us and while Andi was going strong and could have made the hike easily, poor Ollie was starting to tire and slow. The constant need to jump up the steps on the trail was pretty taxing to his old arthritic body so we made the decision to just enjoy the halfway overlook and do the rest of the hike to the top another day.
