The Blue Ridge Railroad Historical Trail is a 2.5-mile in-and-out trail that begins at Stumphouse Tunnel Park and follows an incomplete railbed for the Blue Ridge Railroad. This railroad was begun in 1852, with the intent of connecting Knoxville, TN with Charleston, SC. The railroad itself was to involve a line to be built from Anderson, SC to Knoxville, through 13 tunnels that were to be dug as part of the project. By 1859, the only part of the line to be put into operation was that between Anderson, SC and Walhalla, SC.
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The Parson's Mountain trail wanders around the lake in the middle of the Parson's Mountain Recreation Area, around Abbeville, SC. It's a four-mile loop trail, with a spur that takes you up past some Civil War-era gold mines and to a firetower at the top of the mountain.
Blue Hole Falls is a short hike in upstate South Carolina, just north of Walhalla. This is only a half-mile hike, but it is a little challenging, especially to get to the falls, which shoot out from the cliffs into a pool below.
Rainbow Falls is a gorgeous plunge waterfall at the end of a difficult 2.2-mile trail, which requires about a mile of traveling along the Jones Gap Trail to get to.
These pictures are from a short hike in Devil's Fork State Park in upstate South Carolina. The trail is the Oconee Bells Trail, which is a 1-mile loop through the park. The trail is named for the Oconee Bell, one of the rarest wildflowers in the United States.
The Dukes Creek Falls Trail is a relatively moderate to easy trail that's about 1.1 miles one-way. The stars of the trail are the falls themselves, that one sees at the end of the trail. A swirling, whitewater chaos that is beautiful to see. These images were purposefully rendered in black and white, to emphasize the textures and values in the subjects.
The Coldspring Branch Trail is a 2.6-mile trail in the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area in upstate South Carolina. This gallery also includes images from the Jones Gap trail, which I traversed, in order to complete a trail loop that led me back to the Raven Cliffs parking area.
This Raven Cliff Falls is in north Georgia, as opposed to the falls in South Carolina, and is a 2.5-mile, moderate hike right up to the base of a great waterfall streaming down between two stone bluffs. The trail follows Dodd Creek, and with the recent rainfall, the creek flowed quite strongly.
The Johnstone Trail is part of a network of trails just outside of the Clemson campus, the Fant's Grove Wildlife Management Area. The Johnstone Trail is a relatively easy trail, about 2.5 miles, also in use by horseback riders. During the winter, the trail is not a bad walk, even if it's not the most scenic.
The Tamassee Knob Trail is part of the network of trails that in Oconee State Park in upstate South Carolina. This trail, just over 2 miles in and 2 miles back out, is a moderate trail that leads to the top of Tamassee Knob, a 1,620-foot peak. Perhaps not the most impressive peak in the area, it still provides a wonderful view of the Carolina Blue Ridge mountains. These pictures were taken on a cold morning in late January, with some ice still lingering on the trail in spots.