Last weekend I was in Florida, and I determined to bag a couple of high points on my way home to Missouri.
On Tuesday, 7 October, I drove north from central Florida and reached northwestern South Carolina late in the afternoon. After driving through a lot of rain the skies cleared just as I reached the highlands.
I approached Sassafras Mountain from the south on US-178, which is an enjoyable winding mountain road. At Rocky Bottom I turned right on secondary road #199, the "F. Van Clayton Memorial Highway." It's a little less than five miles on the paved road to the parking area just below the summit. I met one other car on the way up, and the parking lot was empty upon my arrival.
It's just a short walk from the parking lot to the summit. Like everyone else, I found this high point to a be a "lost opportunity." With a fairly small investment by Duke Power (owner of the property) and/or the state of South Carolina it could be a real showplace. As it is, there's little to recommend it. A message board promised a summit log in the attached metal container, but instead there were only a few scraps of paper. Trees obstruct any view, and there's no observation platform or tower.
In any case I reached the summit at about 5:20p EDT, and then continued on to my motel in the aptly-named Travelers Rest, S.C., to rest up for the next day's assault on Black Mountain.
I reached the top of Sassafras Mountain, the Highpoint of South Carolina at 3560 feet, on Friday, May 28th, 2004. It was my 22nd state highpoint.
I drove east from my timeshare condo at the Sky Valley Resort, in Dillard, GA, where I was staying for the week, into North Carolina and onto US 64. I turned right (south) when I reached US 178. I crossed into South Carolina and when I reached Rocky Bottom (don’t blink or you’ll miss it) I turned left (east) at the “Rocky Bottom Camp of the Blind” and drove up the steep windy road to Sassafras Mountain. I parked in the large parking lot, which was empty except for the charred, burned out remains of what appeared to be a large camper about the size of a charter bus. I walked past the broken, unlocked gate and continued the short distance to the summit. I arrived at the summit at approximately 3:00PM. It was partly cloudy and 75 degrees. I was the 2nd person to sign the logbook for the day. The highpoint of South Carolina itself was rather unimpressive, and there were no good views from the top, but there were a couple nice looking trails that I would have liked to hike if I had more time. In fact the entire area around Sassafras Mountain, including much of the tri-state area of Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina was very beautiful with many rivers and waterfalls. White water rafting is very popular here. The river where the movie “Deliverance” was filmed was not too far from where I was staying in Georgia. On the way from my condo to Sassafras Mountain I stopped at Glen Falls where I hiked about 6 miles along some very scenic trails with excellent views of rapids and waterfalls. I used my new hiking poles for the first time on that hike. They are a great help to my sore old weak knees and now I wonder how I ever got along without them. I took a different route on the way back to my condo, driving south on US 178, farther into South Carolina, and then driving west, following SR 11 back to Georgia. As I drove north on US 23 in Georgia, I stopped for a brief look at Tallulah Gorge. It was too late in the day to enter the State Park and hike the 1.5-mile trail along the rim of the sheer walled, 1000-foot deep crevice, with waterfalls and lush vegetation. Maybe next time. However I was able to get a decent view from a roadside gift shop that advertised that it had the only roadside viewpoint to see the gorge. There was no charge to enter the gift shop and view the gorge, and it had some interesting pictures and articles about the history of the area. One of the signs said that Tallulah Gorge was the deepest gorge east of the Mississippi.
After leaving Tallulah Gorge I continued north and stopped at the Dairy Queen, in Clayton, GA, for my daily chocolate fix, on the way back to my condo.
My first winter ascent of a high point. Road was totally clear and good with only a little snow in one spot. Summit had no snow and was mostly muddy. Had it all to myself on a Tuesday afternoon at the start of an unrelated business trip. Strange that the USGS marker is not actually at the highpoint which is over by the trail sign....
(see GA Brasstown Bald for start of day)
After tagging Brasstown Bald in GA I drove straight to Sassafrass again an easy short hike to the sumit not much there to look at but a fire pit. Just short walk on the trail across the dirt road from the parking area is a marker for the NC, SC State line. Tagged Sumit at about 11:30 then back on the road for Sumit number 3 (see NC Mt Mitchell)
again if anyone knows the record for most state suimts in one day or 24 hours let me know (or if you have done more then 4 in one day or 5 in 24hours)
"Reaching the sumit is optional,getting back down isn't" - Ed Viesturs
Second summit of the day for us. Part of our long road trip to bag 9 summits. This one was added after deciding not to camp out that day in GA because of crappy weather, so we decided to drive around bagging the other ones that we knew were all pretty close together. Wandered around on the highway for like 1.5 hours looking for it before driving back to a town and asking for directions (which were wrong anyway). After driving down every road in Rocky Bottom we found the one, and drove up to the parking lot. It was crappy, cold, and rainy, so we briskly made the summit and got the picture and headed up toward NC's highpoint (we were in for a treat).
With little difficulty I arrived at the Sassafras Mountain parking area, about 108 miles from Clingmans Dome which was my previous HP from the day before, at around 10 a.m. It is a short walk to the top up a service road. After some photos were taken it was off to Georgia and Brasstown Bald.
During the first week of May, i was in Florida with my friend Mark Butin for business, and we had time to drive north to highpoint. (Is highpoint a verb?) For Sassafrass Mountain, South Carolina, we did an overnighter on the Foothills Trail from Table Rock State Park. It was a great time of year to be there, with spring so new and green and thick that it felt nearly Amazonian. This is a beautiful trail section, rivaling the Roan Highlands and Humps section of the AT we were on later in our hiking trip. The Table Rock half was along classic stream and rock formations, and as the trail rose in the western half, a series of balds afforded views across the Appalachians. We set camp on top of one of these balds 5 miles in, and then hiked the remainder to the most unattractive of summits. The hike back was a little dicey in the dark and rain, but the next morning's clear view from camp and hike out were pretty great. We did a spur trail up Mt. ? (dang, no map with me) on the way back...a county hp i think. This route was as nice as any i've been on in the southeast.
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